Through the years, I have witnessed the steady decline of Filipinos in about almost everything they used to be good at, and one area is in their command of the English language.
While neighboring countries like Korea and Japan have only recently realized the great value of this de-facto language of choice in today’s highly interconnected world of global trade, business and media; and have been working hard to catch up to our level (like coming over to learn English here), here we are as Pinoys (true to stupid form) going in the direction of the dodo bird in finding new ways to achieve self-destruction and eventual extinction towards obscurity. Is this really our fate?
Our degradation in English competency has recently been aggravated by our becoming the texting capital of the world (cge c u ltr ha) – further bastardizing and perverting the hardly respectable FUBR level of Taglish we are left using in classrooms to teach the next generation. What a big blow on Filipino pupils’ capacity to spell correctly.
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People! English is about the only clear leverage we have in this region of the world even as we struggle to advertise the Philippines to be a major tourist destination and a location foreign investors would consider setting up shop in and here we are flushing this pearl of a competitive advantage we’ve been blessed with down our stinking clogged sewers.
Every now and then, we get some clamor for the use of Tagalog on this blog site. One commenter Mr. Salamat in the midst of our discussion on a previous article respectfully questioned us on why we were using a foreign language here if our objective was to reach the masses. And recall that Mr. Grimwald some time ago even went to great lengths writing articles in Tagalog for this large but rather marginalized audience. This gave me the impetus to think deeper about what we stand to gain or lose in keeping English as our primary medium of formal communication. Let me air my views (to mention a few):
1. Personally, I prefer to use English to communicate in and outside this site owing to its far richer and superior depth of vocabulary. Tagalog doesn’t even have words for “cute”, “convenient”, “precision” and “quantum electrodynamics”. How am I supposed to express myself effectively and accurately?
2. I don’t know about my fellow citizens (like in U.P. where they are translating entire science courses into Tagalog – looks like a waste of time/effort to me; focus on fixing your research instead guys), but I am a proponent of bringing back Filipinos’ level of English to that in the glory days of our parents a generation ago (Marcos’s era) – boy, were they good grammarians back then (subject-verb agreement, appropriate use of articles, etc.). Wouldn’t that be beneficial for our Call Center industry and for fuelling the competence of our OFWs, sectors through which we rake in billions to keep this domestic-consumption-driven economy largely afloat?
3. Lastly Tagalog has its place. It is a beautiful language suited for singing and poetry with the softly rolling “…ang”, “…hay” and “nga…” sounds not present in rigid-sounding languages like German or Japanese and that just blends perfectly with the beautiful intonations of Filipino singers/poets gifted with so much innate emotional firepower. However, Tagalog is not a language designed for written text. I mean – what a chore to write all those repeating syllables like “sa pamamagitan ng” – when you can simply and compactly say “by” in English. Sa totoo lang nakakaduling at nakakahilong basahin ang Tagagagagalogogogogog. By its sheer overall efficiency, we just have to concede that English is simply more concise and loaded on a per letter basis. Time (for typing) is gold; paper is expensive – so why use a slower medium that occupies more space when a faster one exists.
Hey don’t accuse me of being pro-colonial-imperialism – I’m just following the national hero’s example: Noli and Fili were in Spanish right? I still love Tagalog and use it extensively for casual verbal communication with loved ones and friends. So Filipinos who simply have the practical common sense to use English shouldn’t be categorized as the “stinking fish” Rizal was talking about.
Singapore being a society composed of a mixture of Chinese, Malays and Indians adopted a very smart policy we ought to consider following: to make English the official language for business, government and education, and to keep it that way rather than vacillating like a woman’s mood in her monthly cycle attack. Let’s make a stand.
And that policy didn’t keep Singaporeans from maintaining their sense of national pride and patriotism. It’s about time we Filipinos wake up by emulating our smart neighbor if we want to follow its tested and proven path of success, unless of course we are simply content on continually eating the dust of every other country that has zoomed past us.
Mabuhay ang wikang Ingles!
[Photo courtesy New York Times.]
Zealous revolutionary advocate of bringing back common sense for the common good in a land of dysfunctional and delusional zombies.
Yes, English is a lingua franca, but there are times that using Filipino is better. However, what language to use in different situations is a case to case basis. Dipende sa kausap kasi eh. So rather than pursuing excellence in English or Filipino, why not both? Why choose one over the other kung pwede naman parehas? Makakabuti naman di ba?
And just my two cents, since this blog is about Filipinos and for Filipinos, wala naman problema kung mix ng English at Filipino yung articles di ba? Wag lang naman yung sobrang bastardized na mix. Buysit yun. Pero basta ang mahalaga naman kasi ay nagkakaintindihan tayo di ba? There are times na masmadali i-express ang gusto mo iparating gamit ang Filipino. Meron rin naman oras na masmdali kapag English. Lahat naman tayo siguro ay na-experience yun di ba? So why not try to reach out to more people? Kung gusto natin maturuan at matulungan ang marami, tayo dapat ang bumaba dahil hindi natin pwede i-expect na sila ang umakyat sa lebel natin.
…
Wait… Medyo mali eh. May kulang. Paraphrase ko yun:
Pwede naman sila umakyat at pwede rin tayo bumaba. So why not meet halfway? Tulungan tayo lahat? Medyo idealist pero… Mukhang yun ang kailangan ng bansa natin…
Bastardize both languages, why don’t we? If we can give birth to Chabacano (despite Spanish prejudices) and Taglish (if not without high-handed snarking from linguistic puritans), why not even more? It can only benefit us expressively in the long run.
It is unavoidable. Language evolves and adapts to the needs of its users. But it does not mean we should be content with that. As said before, rather than excel in English alone, why not both? Can we not use what we know appropriately? It’s one thing to master a “bastard” language, but to master both its parent language, is it not an entirely different matter?
But still, reading ChinoF’s comment:
“It’s one thing to get Filipinos to pursue excellence in English. It’s another thing to get Filipinos to pursue excellence at all. Many Filipinos just want a free ride to sarap ng buhay.”
So what I want to happen basically is to make Filipinos excel in two things…
…
…it is a big problem indeed.
Lastly, to those saying that we should do away with Filipino. Well, bad news for you. It is what is most prevalent among the people of the Philippines. Even if foreign investors start pouring in, that won’t change in a snap. How would you communicate with them then? And don’t tell that there are many different dialects. Why? Guess what language our mainstream media uses? IMO, they are what caused the degradation of the Filipino when it comes to English.
I know I said before that we should try to reach out to the masses more but I did say meet halfway. It does not mean we should be ~completely~ dumbing everything down. They even tagalized educational TV shows… …Why?
AG, if you think Filipino is “most prevalent among the people of the Philippines” you need to get some more of that vaunted Filipino “education.” Various Visayan dialects are spoken by far more people than is Filipino/Tagalog.
When my wife and I were in Bukidnon for about 6 weeks the only people she could speak to were the few who spoke English. It isn’t as if she has no language skills because she speaks English, Filipino, Hiligaynon, Cebuano, French and Japanese.
@Jerry Lynch
I concede that the statement I had said may have been wrong as I do seem to have a bias for Tagalog as I am from Metro Manila. (I’ll be using Tagalog rather than Filipino for now as it is confusing to alternate between Filipino language and Filipino people. It may be wrong, but I think there is this thing with the Filipino language where it is mostly Tagalog. I apologize in advance just in case.)
Going on, how about I rephrase what I mean by prevalent? Hmm… How should I say it… Tagalog is more utilized? And do note that I’m not saying that all Filipinos are fluent in Tagalog. It is just that from my experience from visiting non-Tagalog places, I usually find that more people, especially from the less privileged, will understand and speak Tagalog to a certain extent. That is why when a Tagalog speaks with a Bisaya or another group where the situation is both are not competent in English (Which is most people in our country), both will be speaking in Tagalog, and of course with some mix of English here and there. But still Mostly Tagalog. I think you’ll seldom find the other way around. However, it may seem that I am implying that Tagalog is above all those other dialects but… Can you really deny that we do not have a Tagalog-centric society? Again, just look at our mainstream media.
And on your stay in Bukidnon, I may be probing a bit but can I ask for more details? I’m just assuming but does your wife prefer speaking in English rather than Tagalog? Same would probably go with those people she spoke to? It is just that if I were to face a situation where I am speaking with a person that knows both Tagalog and English but is also not fluent in both, I’d use the one that both are more comfortable with. Because we just want to communicate right? If using English will easily convey your message well, you’ll surely use English. But if Tagalog will be easier, guess what you’ll choose? Case to case basis right?
Are you trying to convince us, or yourself, with your speech?
There are many points being raised here so I’m not actually sure. =D
Though I would want to reiterate and clarify my stance: I am not against the pursuit of excellence in English. I support it and would also want to pursue better ways of improving it for everybody. But still, what I am against is the total, I repeat, TOTAL elimination of Filipino education. But lately, I am having second thoughts.
For the past few days, I have been thinking about it and had discussed it with some of my classmates who came from the provinces (Most from the Bicol Region). And from what I gathered, it seems that Filipino was still needed to learn English. As my classmates shared: When they were learning English, there are terms that they can directly translate from Bicolano to English and vice versa. But they said that there are times that it would be easier if it was just translated to and from Filipino rather than Bicolano. In addition, as some have already said, Filipino is not as ‘rich’ as English. If that is the case, then what about those other dialects? Would they be richer than Filipino? As Filipino has been declared as a national language for how long and how it has been mainly used in the mainstream media, it seems to have already deeply encroach itself around the country.
So why does the situation said above occur? Well, It is because Metro Manila is treated as the center of the country. Actually, is it even wrong to say that Metro Manila IS the center of the country? Imposing? Of course. True? You be the judge. Just remember that anyone who wants to be successful in this country will find himself sometime in metro Manila one way or the other. And given this Manila-centric society, as mentioned earlier, I am having second thoughts on my support of Filipino. It does seem to hinder the development of other places. It does seem to be a divisive language. But weren’t we just discussing to replace all other languages with one language? What makes it from different from English then? I know what you’ll say… Filipino is not as beneficial.
How about practicality then?
English is not as established as Filipino compared to way back then. (Again, thank media.) How do you suppose will English be taught then? Through their native languages? Okay then. But at the back of my mind, something is telling that it won’t be that effective. That we’ll still need Filipino to teach English… I really am not sure… However, do correct me if I’m wrong as I am from metro Manila. I could be blinded by bias. Given that, I really do want to hear another person’s take on it.
The ONLY place on earth where a claim MIGHT (MIGHT)be made that “there are times that using Filipino is better” is The Philippines. It is spoken nowhere in the civilized world.
Without English your economy would be on the level of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Zimbabwe and Burundi. Your education system is among the worst in the word and you have absolutely ZERO work ethic as a nation. That means you are basically lazy as shit and unable or unwilling to do anything to make a better nation. You had best keep learning some kind of English so people continue to come here for the hookers. Without hookers and OFWs this country would be THE poorest country on earth.
Bulleyes my friend LOL
AG,
To keep from “bastardizing” English and Tagalog (including Tag-lish), Filipinos should just adhere to using each language (English and Tagalog) in its purest and correct form.
In other words, stick to the respective grammar rules for both language. If anyone is caught breaking those rules, they should be made to look like idiots and penalized by being called as such in their face.
Aeta
There is only 1 place on earth that speaks Tagalog so it, like Latin, is almost a useless language. Latin has the advantage of being a “dead language” in that it is not spoken in conversation by anyone so no new vocabulary or meanings come about. That is why Latin is used in medicine and law. A word will mean the same thing a hundred years from now what it means today. English is universally recognized as the lingua franca of business and should be taught and learned properly.
For the past 18 years I have taught ESL to Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Saudis (and other Arabic speakers) and Filipinos. EVERYONE has a far better foundation in both proper grammar and proper vocabulary than do Filipinos. Also, when I teach those people I do not get argued with when I correct grammar or vocabulary use. Filipinos tend to get all butt hurt and offended when told something they say or write is incorrect. This situation is so bad that I have vowed to never again teach Filipinos how to speak or write English.
English is my first language. I use also Tagalog. I can speak and write, several foreign languages.
English made me, be educated in good Universities in the U.S. It gave me higher education. With higher education; I was able to be employed in a good company.I need the English language ; because, my field of work is in the Technical/Scientific field. Most of the advanced books, literature, and articles in my field are written in English language.
Besides, I am married to a British girl. She cannot understand Tagalog. But, with English, we understand each other. My children all speak English.
74Toro007Hayden9999.9997,
English has served you well, and was well-worth learning it.
Aeta
I do agree with the article overall but there are few things that don’t ring true to me.
For an example, even if tagalog is written quite longer, it’s more phonetical than English. In English there’s a spelling bee, in Tagalog, none. why b in “doubt” silent?
To be fair, English has one of the easiest grammar in indo-european languages? Do you know how to conjugate a Spanish verb? Do you know how German adjective changes? English is far easier than these two languages, but its orthography is a huge mess. Without a speller checker, mine will br littered with spelling errors.
Now, which is one of the easiest language to learn? Esperanto, and yet why English takes center stage?
It is the language imposed by the dominant country – USA.
In short, language efficiency is not a strong factor for its adoption – its prevalence and influence do matter.
English is the lingua franca of business and travel worldwide. Yes, the spread of English was the result of colonialism, but not of the Americans, but of the British who at one time said, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”
Regardless of how or why English came to The Philippines, it IS the language of international business and tourism. To ignore it and lose competence for the sake of some childish “national identity” is simply stupid. The English used here is abysmal & even for someone like myself who has been here for 12 years (I teach English), I often find myself trying to make myself understood.
English is just a more varied and colorful language than almost any other. The possible exceptions would be Russian and Farsi, so learn English properly if you want to get ahead in life. This stands true for the entire nation, not just the “elite” or the children of politicians.
Take a look at Manny Pacquiao for an example. When he first fought in America he could not communicate, but he quickly learned that if he wanted to capture the American (money) market he had to be able to speak English so interviews did not need to be translated.
To be clear, I wouldn’t mind if English becomes the only national language in the Philippines. I just don’t think that its so called efficiency is a major reason it’s a good medium of communication. From a design perspective, its spelling is a huge mess. Tagalog is way easier to spell. Of course, tagalog is complicated when it comes to its verb form. At the end, debating the efficiency of a language will not get us somewhere.
English is the lingua franca because USA exerts a economical, social and political influence globally. Also, majority of literature in the world is in English so if I wanna gain acccess to them, I study English.
English is the Lingua Franca of business because the British spread English around the world. It has BECOME the language of business because the largest market speaks English, so I essentially agree with you, but not as far as the “why” English is used
world wide.
The complexity in spelling English words is exactly one of its major strengths. This allows for homonyms like “to” and “two” which sound the same but give different meanings. We can hardly do that in Tagalog – thus our very limited Tagalog vocabulary.
Japanese is syllabic like Tagalog (what you read is what it sounds) but they achieve homonyms in written form by differentiation through the use of differing Kanji characters.
I don’t know but maybe it’s just me. Efficiency for me matters because I value time. Compare writing “convenience store” with “tindahang madali mong mahahanap ang kailangan mo”. Plus the latter looks Greek as a phrase randomly peppered with syllables at first glance – bad for wannabe speed-readers. English words instantly leap off the pages (at least from my eyes point of view)
Anyway this point is just a minor issue and will depend on a person to person basis – the more important reason for striving for excellence in English is –> English = job opportunities.
@zaxx
Nya, in spoken realm, homonyms are disambiguate by context in the sentence. The same goes for Japanese.
The written form is a different matter. Japanese, with it’s limited consonant-vowel combination, has to rely on Kanji + hiragana to disambiguate it’s meaning. Admittedly, the written form in English helps in disambiguate it. Nonetheless, English spelling is still a challenge that non native speakers struggles, but thanks to speller checker, it’s a less problem,
“convenience store”? When at night and speaking to someone, I’ll say “tindahan” and be done :-). Of course, I can speak in Taglish achieve my objective.
I can use Taglish and English at my disposal. Taglish is a natural part of language’s evolution (Tagalog in our case). English also went through changes when it incorporated French words, shifting it closer to Romance language, though retaining a Germanic grammar core, removing grammatical genders and verb conjugations, ending up with a simple good-enough language.
Anyway, I’m in same page with you – learning English to increase ones jobs opportunity and to acquire more knowledge. Sadly, most Filipinos do not aspire to improve on their skills, even with the internet more accessible.
I had written a piece related to the topic..to myself..earlier. I check this ‘column’ now-and-then, and, sure enough, something about ‘English’ comes on.
“Singapore and India have two remarkable things in common. They, both, have ‘tiger economies’ and have ‘English’ as their official language. Japan, China and South Korea have a similar kinship themselves. They are industrialized and aggressive economies; and, all three are pursuing programs that would install English as their second language. All these Asian countries accept the fact that English is the ‘lingua franca’ of today’s world. The Philippines, for her part, seems to be going the other way. Where we had an educational system, through ‘college’, with English as its staple up until the 1960s, we have since, pushed it to the back burner, practically eradicating ‘English’ from our primary and secondary school curricula. We did have, up until the early 1980s, a strong toe-hold on overseas employment..a toe-hold that has been slipping incrementally since then. In pursuing blind ‘nationalism’, we have probably “thrown the baby out the window with the bath water”.
Competency in English is essential. I am sorry but tagalog is not worth learning and my children will be English only. Coupled with the removal of the foreign investment restrictions would lead to a much more vibrant ecomony
Very well. Are you planning on enrolling them on expensive exclusive schools then shuttling them out of the country and into an English-speaking nation when they step into college, just to shield them from corrupting native influences?
Good luck with that.
Not like those natives have anything of real value to echange, unless you count “cultural experience” from a study abroad program.
I agree with your article and would state that it is because of the English Language in the Philippines that many foreign nationals opt to retire here and to many visit as tourist for that reason. Presently it is one of the easiest countries in Asia to communicate in.
It seems that the younger Filipino’s are not as willing as the Filipina’s to learn & to communicate in English. Being in the Tourism Business I would like to stress the importance of being proficient in English if you wish to work in Tourism, the Colleges teaching Tourism need to stress the importance of this to the students.
@ T. Solski: So, how are things on Camiguin? Has it been completely ruined by the housing development behind Mambajao yet? 400 houses behind a sleepy little town with no traffic lights, 3 operating ferries on/off the Island…and one road going around the whole Island,OMG! it will be ruined soon if it is not already, yes?
To misquote
Bones from Star Trek “It’s English Jim, but not as we know it”.
As far as I can see, the standard of English teaching here is very poor. I have had to correct the text in my step-son’s English book and also the answers in tests. His English teachers cannot differentiate he/she, come/go, bring/take, on/to and the use of salvage to mean murder. Their use of English has a lot of slang in it, and they are surprised when I correct my step-son. Their view is that English is a foreign language and as such we should accept that there will be many errors errors in the teaching of it. I find this “that’ll do attitude” appalling. Alas, the same attitude is found in many places here, with many people not taking care or pride in their job. 🙁
The fact of the matter is that even with our linguistic hoity-toitiness and puritanism, the English language will always lend its hand to local conditions. If the Americans bastardized British English with liberal helpings of slang and cant and neologisms and whatnot to suit their expansive tastes (and I have my Menckens at hand to prove it), why can’t we?
So the fact of the matter is that among us natives sufficiently immersed in the English language to play ball with it, the emergence of different words (or emphases, as the tasty redifinition of “salvage” highlights) that suit local fancies will strum forth and amble along — and the best we can do is to enjoy the collisions.
Simply because the “local” flavor gives off super cringey stench for one thing? The unintelligible gibberish that is jejemon is but the tip of the proverbial shitberg.
I don’t like jejemon myself, but short of giving ourselves a Hawaiian Special (and would you just look how the Hawaiian language is flourishing stacked beneath molding notebooks and whiting bones !) or else taking Swiftian satire (A Modest Proposal, more like) and/or Defoesque pretension seriously (The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, anyone?), I can’t and won’t want to stop non-English speakers, us included from playing with English as they see fit.
Simply put, the way Filipinos mutate English is equal to the same “Kalye” level as Ebonics. It sounds classless and displeasing to the ear. This seems to be a problem with anything foreign they touch on from Jeeps to Catholicism. Yes, they put their own spin on things in more tacky ways than one.
Well, of course if we must lambast Tagalog, we do it in total ignorance of the near-extinction of yeoman Middle English in twelfth-century Britain, pinned as it was between ecclesiastical Latin and royal French (and I’m willing to bet there were a lot of odious snobs who evidently felt the English they so loathed will die in due course).
If we must lambast Taglish, we do it despite the fact that English took its sweet time to assimilate Norse, French, Latin, and other influences well before Chaucer then the Elizabethan men of letters, that the process took goddamn centuries despite these languages being descendants of a not-quite-dead common tongue. (Unlike, say, Tagalog and English today, worlds apart linguistically.)
If we must uproot Tagalog from its Philippine roots, we do it even as Tagalog and English can co-exist, each covering up for the other’s inadequcy, each enriching the other’s language by such collisions as Taglish provides.
If we must foist one language as superior to the other by fiat — you will have proved yourselves thudding fools, Canutes barking at the goddamn wave to roll the fuck back.
Yes, you. Not I, for I am quite content to drift along.
A friend of mine in CDO tells me that he was constantly finding mistakes in the English curriculum of his biological son born in The Philippines. The child’s English teacher would get offended when she was corrected in her grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. At some point she was asked who Shakespeare was and even though she had a degree in English Literature from Ateneo University, had never even HEARD of the most famous author in the English language.
honestly the country needs native English speakers as teachers. if I’m the president I would hire English teachers from the west to correct the mistakes in our educational system.
andrew,
What the Filipinos need is to go back to the basics of English education: a thorough understanding of the 8 Parts of Speech, punctuation, reading comprehension, writing, speaking and listening.
Aeta
And remove the subject called Filipino in all schools in the Tagalog region. What a waste of time.
@andrew You would have to pay considerably higher salaries for it to be worth native English foreigners getting out bed in the morning. Unless you’re happy with a influx of experience-seeking gap year students who’ll work for beer and board.
It would make more sense to raise salaries to the point where decent Filipino English speakers could stay at home rather than heading to Japan and Korea to be employed by thrifty schools that can’t afford their favoured caucasians.
Get elected and hire me.
Jerry Lynch,
That is typical of Filipino English teachers who don’t understand half of what they are teaching their students. My own children have also suffered from a lack of solid English education, even though I paid good money for a private school education in the Philippines. It is a classic case of “the blind leading the blind” when it comes to Filipinos teaching English to other Filipinos.
Aeta
How awfully convenient, even for an anecdote.
Pallacertus,
I cannot think of a better way to describe the truth, when it comes to English usage in the Philippines.
Aeta
There are a few questions that went unasked here before the dubiously specific case of the Filipino pedagogical ignoramus was exploded into a generalizing verdict of Pinoy insipidity.
No one bothered to ask because, what the hell, to question is hell.
Pallacertus,
It’s not true. That’s just your Pinoy Pride preventing you from accepting the truth laid out before you.
Aeta
No, that’s my skeptical side kicking in. With accusations this grave, you’d expect something other than prima facie assertions to bolster this anecdote, but nope.
Kung Amerikano o Pranses o Mozambican EngLit prof ito ganoon rin ang magiging reaksyon ko. I’d supposed that kind of stance was the usual one to take here, pero nakalimutan kong GRP pala ito. Sorry if I offended your sensibility — I should’ve accepted what Jerry Lynch narrated without reservations, and if I did have them, I’d rather not comment, for to dissent is hellfire, eh, Aeta?
Tagalog, as a national language only served to inhibit, to be divisive, of this country instead of unifying it.
Decades ago, you can communicate with anybody even in the remotest places of the Philippines in english. Might not be textbook perfect, but it works.
With regards to tagalogizing this site, well, there you again with the bobopinoy attitude, the world should adopt to pinoys and not the other way around. Bobopinoy! And oh, to add, tagalog is not the only dialect in the Philippines.
If asserting our linguistic prerogatives is a hallmark of what you call a “bobopinoy”, then what of our erstwhile North Asian neighbors (e. g. the Chinese and Japanese)?
Of course, I know the CCP has been and is ramping up efforts to educate its billions in the rudiments of English so that millions of the most talented can partake in scholarships and entrepreneurial opportunities and whatnot given China’s economic ties to the United States (aha! caveat!) — but what of Japan? It’s been greatly Westernized since the Meiji Restoration and especially since World War II, but no one would deny that the country has been asking the rest of the world to bend over and adopt to its ways, linguistically (and culturally) speaking.
Might it be, after all, that our backwardness is not due to our fetish for a fetid river dialect?
You’re obviously out of touch with what’s going in Japan. They are starting to realize that English is vital to remaining competitive globally and have been pushing efforts to bettr their program, be it by inviting more native English teacher or studying abroad to English speaking countries (PH being one of them. Shocker, I know.).
And despite Japan’s place as a soft power titan, it doesn’t even come close to America’s. Japan asking the rest of the world to conform to its language and culture? What crockery is this?
East Asia is in a better position than Philippines that’s for sure but to say they’ve done that so much so they’ve become USA 2.0 is nothing short of unfounded speculation.
“Japan asking the rest of the world to conform to its language and culture?”
Aren’t they?
No, they’re just doing their own thing. It just so happens their culture is perceived as cool to outsiders hence “Cool Japan.” A more passive approach. It’s the opposite to America which it actively imposes its own culture and values outside its borders, whether people like it or not.
“And despite Japan’s place as a soft power titan, it doesn’t even come close to America’s. Japan asking the rest of the world to conform to its language and culture? What crockery is this?”
Of course with America everything is bigger than life, especially in terms of soft power (save those ding-a-lings of course — Russia is the clear winner, yes?), but a well-informed casual visitor to the Land of the Rising Sun doesn’t usually expect the Japanese man on the street to speak fluent English, or even prolonged streams of English beyond the usual courtesies and loanwords said casual can get if he pricks up his ears.
That is what I mean when I say that Japan “has been asking the rest of the world to bend over and adopt to its ways”. Visitors to Japan usually don’t force others to speak English, because they are aware that they are not in their backyard.
That is why I teach English to Japanese students online.
Think of it this way:
I am a father of two kids. I have been trying to insulate my kids from mainstream media. I let them watch shows from other countries. We visit other countries when we can. I want them to be ready, what’s the word, GLOBALLY. I do not want them to just work within the confines of the Philippines. Hell, I do not want them to settle in the Philippines. This is not a matter of patriotism, it is a matter of being productive citizens of the world. I can ask you now, what has Filipinos contributed to society?
Breaking out of the mold, this is what each filipino should do. Then and only then, we can be truly proud of coming from the land of the filipinos. Only then can this country be truly proud. How is this done, again think globally, language is one big barrier which we need to overcome. Sure it is good to be able to speak your native tagalog, but that is as far as it can get you. It can get you to Megamanila if that is the depth of your dream, other than that, nada.
@joeld
Language is one big barrier that we need to overcome? Can I ask then how other countires that perform worse than us in English like China, Japan, Singapore, S. Korea, or any other non-native English nation overcome that? Regardless of their capabilities in English, they seem to be doing quite well… I’m not being provocative or anything but your point really did indeed make me wonder about that… As you seem to be much more well-traveled than I am, I’m wondering about what your take is regarding what I have said above.
And given this “Globalism” stuff that is being thrown around in the I’d like to give my take on it. From what I can observe, when it comes to globalism, there are only two types of countries:
One that creates.
One that consumes.
Can you guess which of the two is more economically sucessful? If we ever want to be a sucessful and independent country, the first one is what we need to do. But sadly, we don’t have leaders with both the long term vision and the guts to take the risk… Well, we can try to kick them out and replace them with someone appropriate but I fear that they are too deeply rooted for that to happen… I wonder how and when will this kind of change happen? Pipe dream?
China is now crazy about learning English.
@AG
The countries which you have mentioned, non-native english nations, are not immune to this language barrier. As it is, these countries are giving extra effort to learn english. The language barrier for them may not be that obvious since they have something to offer big time. They are industrial giants, compared to the Philippines. What has the Philippines have to offer?
I agree that the Philippines has been reduced to just being mere consumers in the global scene. We need to change this. We have brilliant minds in technology, the government just needs to create a place that these brains can be comfortable and be creative. I do not see any effort from the government for that. As you can see, I have been denied employment in the local scene a lot of times in favor of much younger, fresh graduates, that is why I am now working in foreign soil. I am not saying I am one of the more brilliant ones, but the situation still applies.
joeld,
With so many dialects spoken in the country, Tagalog being one of them, the Philippines should adopt a language that everyone can practically use, to eliminate the disparity and division among Filipinos. If everyone talks the same language, they can understand each other better.
Aeta
Bilib na sana ako sa pasikat mo sa pag-iingles, nang bigla kong nabasa ang mga katagang “with regards” …OK kuya, regards to you!
^para kay joeld din
Filipinos Need to Prioritize Learning English and Start Endorsing Mandarin/Nihonggo Over Spanish
Spanish – I’ve heard that Spanish is a in demand language in the call center, catering for the growing Latin Americans in the US, though I’ve quite doubted it considering south America got a bunch of Spanish speakers, though the wage difference may give Philippines an edge. anyway feel free to refute this, I haven’t thoroughly verified this claim.
Mandarin and Nihonggo – Not sure about this considering one needs to overcome cultural hindrances to succeed in these nations, but it wouldn’t be bad at all.
Sorry but Spanish is a language of the poor. It’s not a business one in the sense that you’ll be using it to speak with others at a board meeting or a conference. The most you’ll get out of it is probably going to the Americas and talk your way out of being shanked if you end up in a slum or something.
Japanese is a bit limited now that it has lost a bit of its appeal ever since its economy has been in the doldrums in the past few decades. Mandarin is probably the best bet. Philippines is geographically closer to China and its a rising economy to boot. Now, if only PH is wise enough not to antagonize the Dragon even further.
“Ang Di Magmahal Sa Sariling Wika Daig Pa Ang Hayop At Malansang Isda” — Jose Rizal
Yeah tell that to Visayan and Mindanaoan! We love our own language more than your Tagalog.
Debunked; Rizal couldn’t have written the poem where that attributed quote came from, specially when he was 8-years old.
Get past your idiotic “praydist” mentality, it just makes you an imbecile.
Rizal being Rizal being a polymathic polyglot, I would think he could’ve — but then I do think exceptional talents, especially those like Rizal’s, can and will manifest themselves very early in life.
Need I say I don’t think you believe that?
Of course I’m not saying Rizal was a polymathic polyglot at 8 years old — but he did have the talent, yes?
“Live long and prosper” – Gandalf
I think Spock said that, not Gandalf.
I think you missed the joke, bro.
“And di lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay may STIFF NECK.”
~Ogie Alcasid, Bubble Gang
Proven true, actually. My neck still hurts right now. Really, I should remind myself to sober up before sleeping.
OW! Dangit.
Mali. “Ang di lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay may tinatakbuhan.” LOL.
Na-experience ko iyan ng hinabol ako ng mga aso ng kapit-bahay ko…
Dude, Rizal authorship of the poem you’re quoting from is questionable. I used to think Rizal said it until I’ve learned it wasn’t the case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa_Aking_Mga_Kabata#Authenticity
Are you implying that non-NCR Filipinos are not Filipinos at all you pinoy ultranationalist?
Spanish is spoken as a first language than any other language on Earth. You do not just pick a language to learn because a lot of people near you speak it. You learn English because it is spoken world wide and almost exclusively in the business world.
Go to a business meeting in Hamburg, Germany where are the following nationalities: German, British, Dutch, Greek, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Saudi, American and Filipino. The language spoken at that meeting will be English, and the people at the most serious disadvantage are the Filipinos because they learned it incorrectly as children, and are resistant to education and learning from others.
I agree with the author all the way.
I’m bilingual, speaking English and body language. I prefer the latter, because I can speak it silently and without listening and while my back is turned.
Yes. Yes! At all costs, yes! Even that of our national identity!
Not just English. It’s also high time to bring back Spanish. Let’s rectify the mistakes of the 1987 constitution and reclaim our lost heritage.
I’m sure Rizal and others would be happy with that move.
I can see sense in trying to shore up English instruction here — but Spanish? It’s, like, how many of us really need Spanish in our day-to-day lives? How many of us will go to countries where Spanish is the dominant language?
Let Spanish instruction be the province of pedagogues seeking to mine the prejudices of the peninsulares, and of bibliophiles and cineastes (like me) who hanker after a Dario or a Dali. If anyone wants to learn Spanish, let him; otherwise, let him be.
Well.. in call centers, they give higher pay to those who can communicate in Spanish.
Well, newsflash, fella. Spanish speakers are now increasing globally, while English speakers are slowly decreasing. Don’t get me wrong though, English is still the world’s lingua franca for the years to come.
If you’re still skeptical, use Google.
lots of demands for spanish speaking reps these days with salaries so high a lot of my colleagues are already inquiring about instituto de cervantes. so no, as far as spanish language is concerned, it’s gaining traction in the philippines.
As I’ve heard, this is to cater for middle class to upper class Latinos in USA, hence the demand.
I’m studying Spanish, but not primarily for economic reason, but for enjoyment of learning it.
Your friends may supplement their study of Spanish with Duolingo, a great way to study foreign language by gamification.
This country has no cultural heritage, or culture for that matter. Before the Spaniards arrived this country was a mishmash of small tribal entities with no shared culture. That Filipinos think there is a “national Filipino identity or culture” proves the failures of the so-called “education system” in this place.
Had it not been for the Spanish this country would still be a random grouping of islands and tribes with nothing but brown skin in common.
As for Spanish language being taught…it probably SHOULD be taught in America because it is the first language of more people than any other language on earth. America is also part of an entire hemisphere in which the majority of the people speak either Spanish or Portuguese. But, English is the Lingua Franca (odd that a French term is used) of international business and travel, so English needs to be learned everywhere that wants to advance and progress in this world.
Jerry Lynch,
Exactly! This country were all tribes and fought with each other. Evidence of these warring (feudal) nature is still evident today among Filipinos. Whatever culture Filipinos boast were adapted from the Spanish first, the Americans second; and, they use their Spanish aristocracy and American ties to create disparities and divisions amongst each other.
Aeta
“Before the Spaniards arrived this country was a mishmash of small tribal entities with no shared culture.”
Maybe. Maybe not. The fact of the matter is that we know next to shit about precolonial Philippines — the various languages and dialects do bear the imprint and influence of various civilizations even before Magellan’s arrival, and it is true that there never was a political entity hegemonizing over what we now call this country before the Spaniards came, but apart from those and a few other incidental clues as well as estimations from jaundiced if not biased colonial observers written after the fact (a motley crew of whom Rizal collected for his own bile care of La Indolencia), we know next to shit.
What’s wrong with Spanish? Isn’t it better if a person knows more languages. Some friends of mine told me that persons that is fluent in more than 2 languages gets a job faster than those who knows English and a random native language only. Why not add Spanish to your language arsenal? Heck, I wanted to learn French.
French is more useful in the long run since a lot of international organizations (EU ones at that) use it. I personally prefer German or the Nordic languages because I like their culture and plan to visit there.
It’s one thing to get Filipinos to pursue excellence in English. It’s another thing to get Filipinos to pursue excellence at all. Many Filipinos just want a free ride to sarap ng buhay.
YABANG PA!,
There is no need to be mayabang (have too much “Pinoy Pride) and defensive about the Tagalog language. Just because Filipinos pursue excellence in English language doesn’t mean they have to give up their native tongue. In fact, it makes our people a better communicator worldwide, and can accurately back up their claim that English is the second most spoken language for the Philippines. That is if we use the correct forms of the English language, and not “Taglish” crap that does nothing but make our people sound more stupid.
Aeta
“Should Filipinos Go Back to Pursuing Excellence in English?” YES!!! But not at the expense of the Unlearning of our own Filipino Language!
GRP’s MidwayHaven kind of sums it up better!
“I believe that Tagalog is a beautiful language, but its full beauty is hidden underneath the barrage of “Taglish” that comes to us everyday. The local languages can culturally connect us to each other, while English can connect us to the rest of the world.”
I don’t subscribe into other people’s thinking that learning our own language is unimportant and therefore irrelevant:
“I am sorry but tagalog is not worth learning and my children will be English only.” – VR
“Tagalog, as a national language only served to inhibit, to be divisive, of this country instead of unifying it.” – joeld
“In pursuing blind ‘nationalism’, we have probably “thrown the baby out the window with the bath water”.” – Vagoneto Rieles
“Yes. Yes! At all costs, yes! Even that of our national identity!” – MMX
“To ignore it and lose competence for the sake of some childish “national identity” is simply stupid.” – Jerry Lynch
Filipinos who champion the superiority of English over its own, to the point of ridicule, are not only suffering from a dearth of Sense of Culture but seem to have been lost and suffering from their Sense of Identity as well.
And Foreigner(s) who put greater emphasis on something that obviously puts him at his advantage while undermining that of his host country’s language is not only showing his lack of respect but also a self-serving nature of his stance.
“THERE WERE TIMES WHEN I ALMOST SEEMED TO EMBARASS PEOPLE IN MANILA BY SPEAKING THEIR OWN LANGUAGE, AS IF THEY WERE ASHAMED OF IT.” – Mr. Nathan Allen
The Pride, Power and Prestige Of The Philippines 【The Babayin Language】
Filipino Lesson 201: A Brief History of the Filipino Language
The trouble with Tagalog, is that it is a very limited language, there is no differentiation for brother/sister, he/she, husband/wife etc. My wife, a Filipino, prefers English to Tagalog because of its limitations and the fact that one has to use Taglish in order to communicate effectively.
Ultimately, most languages will die out to be replaced by another, more dominant, language; that is the way of evolution and globalisation. whilst English may be the dominant language now (due to the influence of the British Empire), that could well change with the passage of time.
Edward,
Compared to the richness of English, Tagalog is very limited in the depth of its descriptive words (adjective and adverbs), and often have a different translation for the same word in English.
For example.
When you say, “The coffee is strong” in English. In Tagalog, it goes, “Matapang ang kape.” “Matapang” means “Brave” in English and not “Strong,” which is very confusing.
Aeta
The same confusion goes with a Filipino learning English. Bakit malakas ang kape?
Languages have ways of expressing thing that’s wierd from another speaker.
– Te llamas Aeta (you call yourself Aeta, your name is Aeta)
– No tengo hambre (I don’t have hunger, I am not hungry)
– me duele la cabeza (the head hurts me, my head is hurting me)
The literal translation of these Spanish sentences are wierd for English speaker. For Spanish speaker, thet are nornal.
It won’t do good to ask why a language expresses thing different from another language. These are just how native expresses in his language. What may be normal expression for you is weird for another speaker.
OnesimusUnbound,
“The same confusion goes with a Filipino learning English. Bakit malakas ang kape?”
So it comes down to who came first? The chicken (English) or the eggs (Tagalog), or vice versa.
So if in Tagalog, Filipinos used “Matapang” (“brave” in English) to describe the strength of their coffee, and doesn’t parallel the specific English’s description of “strong” to describe the strength of coffe in English, are you implying that some of the words in Tagalog serve more than meaning?
If “Matapang” describes the coffee’s strength, and the same word is used to describe a brave person, then why does “Malakas”–if we’re going to use it in its literally meaning to describe a coffee’s strength in Tagalog, then why aren’t the Filpinos using “Malakas” more often to describe the strength of their coffee, instead of “Matapang”?
I also can’t find a logical grammar rule explanation for the “dual purpose” use of “Matapang” anywhere in the Tagalog phrase manual, which makes me question the richness, methodical, and conventional learning approach of this language (Tagalog) for anyone who is trying to learn it.
Aeta
Aeta,
It wouldn’t matter. English and Tagalog have different history. Tagalog is part of Austronesian tree, hailing from Taiwan, spreading to the Philippines then to Indonesian archipelago, then to the pacific islands. Tagalog’s grow by incorporating words from Indian, Chinese, and Arabs by trade. Eventually, Spain came and colonized the Philippine island and Spanish influenced Tagalog.
English is part of the Indo-European languages, coming from the Germanic main group. Thanks to the Norman conquest, English now got a loan of French words.
Moreover, which version of these language do we refer to? Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Modern English, Future English (sorry, made that one up :-). Pre-colonial Tagalog, Colonial Tagalog, Modern Tagalog, Filipino?
Language evolves as the people see it to fit to their needs.
Because that’s how tagalog speakers define malakas and matapang
http://tagalog.pinoydictionary.com/word/malakas/
http://tagalog.pinoydictionary.com/search/matapang/
As you can see, you can’t simply map the english definition of strong in a one to one relationship with a tagalog word. It won’t work. Moreover,
Spanish’s quedar has alot of equivalent English words (http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/quedar)
English’s word be (am, is, are, etc.) maps to Spanish estar and ser, and the usage depends on context
Spanish don’t have a word for become, and spanish has alot of ways to use “become”, depdnding on context (http://spanish.about.com/od/translationsfromenglish/a/become.htm)
German’s “werden” has three quite different equivalent in English (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/werden#German)
My point is simple: Each language it’s own different way of expressing things and it won’t help think why one language has a different way of saying things from your language. After all, all languages are mere approximation of the mental concepts we want to express.
Care to cite the phrasal manual you’re referring to?
@Aeta
What you are saying is not exclusive to Tagalog.
When trying to understand the meaning of statements, context is very important regardless of language. If a statement is without context, it will be ambiguous at best. That is why you’ll have people imagine coffee lifting weights in English, or coffee falling through the air bravely in Tagalog.
It can and will be used for fun. (fun intended)
http://i.imgur.com/yNRCczs.png
OnesimusUnbound,
One thing you are still refusing to acknowledge is–for all intensive and practical purposes—is the lack of richness of Tagalog over the English language. We are not talking about supporting your argument by citing the history or origin of Tagalog.
We are also not talking about other version of English except for the modern type that everyone in this contemporary world are already using–what you and I are using–to communicate with one another.
I do not think anyone who is interested in learning about the origin and version of either English or Tagalog (unless they are in academia), nor how both have evolved over time, except to use these two language to serve a purpose: to express one’s intent in the most efficient way possible.
“Because that’s how tagalog speakers define malakas and matapang,” is like saying ‘it’s just the way how things are done and we won’t question it.’ Again, if I’m trying to learn a language, I want to know why a particular word is express a certain way in order to maximize my practical learning experience of that language.
Given the numerous regional dialects of the Filipino people, Tagalog was the medium adopted by the Philippines to draft its constitution, because it was widely spoken in the cities where the central government was seated; thus, Tagalog—out of familiarity and convenience by the ruling class–was given precedence by the American colonists and pioneering Filipino leaders to be adopted as the country’s national language.
I am certain that many Filipinos from other regions hold strong sentiments on why Tagalog is still considered the country’s national language, when it is not even widely spoken in most parts of the Philippines. In fact, rudimental English is a much preferred language of choice of the people—over Tagalog– to communicate with outsiders from any of these regions.
The two Filipino-Tagalog dictionary sites that you gave me are mere phrasal manuals that I had mentioned earlier, and they do not give in-depth explanations or ‘rules’ of why and how the terms “Matapang” and “Malakas” were inadvertently used in Tagalog to mean the same thing.
In fact, these dictionaries–or somewhat half-hearted attempt at writing and publicizing Tagalog grammar books that you had asked me to cite–are what I normally find when browsing through bookstores’ shelves in the Philippines; and, incidentally, I see more versions of English grammar manuals than the other way around.
Aeta
AG,
Unfortunately, Filipinos had too much fun with English and Tagalog and decided to combine them together in one version in their everyday language–Tag-lish–and further complicating the correct way to learn both language in their individual forms.
Aeta
Aeta,
For the record, I **never argued for** the richness of Tagalog – never. What I’m arguing for is that one language has way of expressing things that sounds weird in another language when translated literally.
Taking your example:
This is basically what you did:
strong [eng] -> matapang [tg] -> brave [eng]
Let us look on how “strong” can be translated to Tagalog by context, remember the keyword: C-O-N-T-E-X-T.
* strong (ability to lift weight) -> malakas
* strong (ability to withstand force) -> matibay, matatag
* strong (high concentration in flavor) -> matapang
An English speaker, forcing his English-language-shaped mindset, will never understand the weirdness (from his perspective anyway) of Tagalog expression / word. The same goes for a closed minded, Tagalog speaker looking on English language with a Tagalog-language-shaped mindset. both type of users will never go far and end up thinking their language-shaped world view is superior.
¿Entiendes? Do you get my drift?
When one learns a foreign language, he relies on translation, but eventually, he has to let go of translating a foreign language back to his own native language to understand. He has to let the language stand as is.
You want to push Tagalog into the English mindset, go ahead, but that will not work – and it’s a bad argument for English richness.
—–
Now, I won’t argue with you that English is richer than Tagalog in words. It is, thanks to English ability to absorb foreign words and to create colorful ones, it has enrich itself, in literature, in scientific and computing. As a piece of advice, compare the number of words each language has. English got millions, Tagalog got around hundred thousands.
Your argument for language richness is just about translation, which has nothing to do with language richness.
Okie?
OnesimusUnbound
That is exactly my point. You points on the translation of the synonyms “Matapang” and “Malakas” stop right where it began. A couple of definitions in a Pinoy-Tagalog dictionary (or in Tagalog-to-English phrasal books) on how these words are used interchangeably to mean the same thing, without so much as ‘an explanation’ as to the ‘why and how’ these words became to mean the same thing, is the examples I used to support my initial contention that English is a much richer language than Tagalog.
English gives its users a thorough explanation in its manual on “why [it] absorb foreign words and to create colorful ones, it has enrich itself, in literature, in scientific and computing,” and to take the “weirdness” (mystery) out of the foreign word, to facilitate its transition into the native tongue a much smoother process.
“An English speaker forcing his English-language-shaped mindset, will never understand the weirdness (from his perspective anyway) of Tagalog expression / word.” Rightly so, since most English speakers are methodical learner and adhere to a grammatical convention that is accepted worldwide (with a slight variation between British English and American English, of course), while the typical “closed minded, Tagalog speaker looking on English language with a Tagalog-language-shaped mindset,” will not accept because they are not use to think methodically (or conventionally) when it comes to using their native Tagalog language—which, by the way still have lots of archaic (antiquated) words that have yet to be replaced with contemporary ones.
One evidence of these adamant refusal to adhere to either English or Tagalog grammatical rules–or both–is the annoying country-wide fusion of both language called “Taglish.” Taglish is the Filipino people’s lazy attempt at appearing to have a working knowledge of both English and Tagalog—regardless of anyone’s opinion that one language is more superior to the other in shaping world view—without really gaining mastery of either language (English and Tagalog) in its own rights.
Aeta,
Ah, I see. The issue here is the few number of thorough language resources for Tagalog. For our case, the dictionary I was able to use online is a phrasal book where I don’t get a detailed explanation on when to use a word. Well, on this respect I also agree with you that Tagalog has less thorough and less accessible resource than English.
“The coffee is strong” and “Matapang ang kape” – as long as the idea is expressed then it’s fine. if we use: “malakas ang kape” then it’s called transliteration = literally translating word by word and grammar structure, therefore the idea is destroyed. if I were to translate “stand in line” in tagalog, it means “pumila”. so, get the idea then translate it base on the structure and word usage of the language. so “matapang ang kape” is correct.
“The trouble with Tagalog, is that it is a very limited language.”
That it is, Edward.
The official languages of the Philippines today is Filipino, (aka Tagalog), and English. At the turn of the 19th century, it was English and Spanish. So, I can’t see why we have endeavored to gradually erase English from our schools and from our daily lives. ‘English’ whether the ‘Queen’s’ or that of the ‘Americans’, like the USDollar, has been legal tender all over the world for over a century now. The Americans, from the time they took over from the Spaniards in 1898 up until their granting of independence in 1946, did an arduous but crucial job in making all high school graduates so proficient in the language, that they were good enough to teach it. Then, the Philippines was the only country outside of the UK and the USA, that was profecient in terms of speaking and writing in proper ‘English’.
Over the years.. since shortly after ‘Philippine Independence.. ‘English’ was steadily eroded in its daily usage and, sadly, in school instructions as well. “Philippine Nationalism” and “Filipino First” became the popular buzz words. Schools slowly switched to ‘Filipino’ as the medium of instruction; so much so that today, quite a number of ‘college graduates’ could hardly speak or write intelligibly, never mind coherently. A bastardized pidgin ‘mishmash’… ‘Taglish’…which is understood only by Filipinos, is now, sadly, in vogue. Are we not interested in matters beyond our borders? Those responsible for the ‘switch-over’ must have had a totally myopic, parochial and insular view for the country.
We should take a serious look at where we are today.. both in English proficiency, and in today’s global trade requirements.. with a view to regaining our erstwhile advantage. We seem to be discovering now, the value of that which we foolishly discarded then. We must pull ourselves back to reality. There is no other option.
Vagoneto Rieles
The correct usage of the English will not only broaden the Failipinos’ narrow mind, but will also make them look less “cheesy” (corny) and more “world class” material in the eyes of the international community.
This “Taglish” (bastardization of the English language) bullshit is just a half-ass effort to appear socially regal (“sosyal”) in other people’s eyes, while doing little to nothing of increasing literacy, uniting the Failipinos as one people, and moving the Failippines forward as a nation.
Aeta
To answer the question: NO, keep speaking Tagalog and Cebuana, a language that no one outside the Philippines speaks and wants to learn to speak even less.
An idiotic question for sure. Keep being ignorant of English and see how far it gets you, both inside or outside the country.
Are you saying that because you’re a peenoise who wants to show off the world how “great” pinoys are?
Bakit mo ikahihiya na magtagalog?
Dahil ang mga gumagamit noon ay mga tanga, ika nila. Of course technical words (especially those of Latin or Greek origin) have no place in Tagalog, pero hindi naman magkapamilya ang Ingles at Tagalog, ipipilit mo pa? Kung kailangan mong ipaliwanag ang “torque” sa akin, gumamit ka na lang ng visual aid — Latin iyan, ultimately from torquere, to twist (same with the words “tort” and “torture”), pero walang equivalent niyan sa Tagalog o sa kahit anong Malayo-Polynesian language o dialect na alam ko — anong magagawa ko? Pumatay ng di nakakaintindi?
The answer is ridiculously simple if you want the common Filipino to be masters of English. It’s to stop tagalizing everything. Back in the 90s, everyone to some point has a grasp of English. Because all of the media was in English. You either learn it or get left behind. You want to watch a cool Hollywood movie or show? YOU BETTER LEARN ENGLISH!
However, thanks to the people up in the food chain, tagalogization became a standard. Thus robbing the local Pinoy of their desire to learn the language. I know their reason behind it is for a wider audience, but they did the cultural equivalent of “one step forward and three steps back.”
The ultimate tragedy is because of today’s Filipino’s disdain for English, they are missing out a lot. And they have the nerve to call you small minded.
Ricardo_diaz,
I agree with “Tagalization,” or, more commonly known as “Taglish.” Taglish is the cheesy and lazy way for Filipinos to use English in daily settings, so they can appear socially regal (“sosyal”) to their fellow Filipinos without putting forth much effort.
It’s not that Filipinos disdain English. In fact, they love everything about Americans and British. This love and hate relationships for the English language came about because there are no effort from the Philippines educational system, to require the correct usage of the English language in their schools.
The primary reason for the lackadaisical approach on emphasizing English excellence is, it does not give a profitable return for the country’s educational system compared to technology, medical, or nursing degrees.
Aeta
Which is ironic seeing as how the the nation is most know for its accessible English. One would think the government would capitalize on this, build language schools and export English teachers instead of domestic help, but that’s giving them too much faith.
Wow 36 comments and counting!… but still a far cry from the 25M tweets the AlDub topic gets.
I was actually wanting to stir a debate here that could eventually influence policy makers in Congress, DepEd, media and Educational institutions.
The pro-English camp seems to be dominating with the many “second the motion” affirmations, but I was wanting to see more opposition from the guys with a “second emotion” (i.e. reservations/negative feelings) about the point of this article.
But hey, looks like more from the camp of Mr. Salamat and company (pro-Taglaog in this site, media, everywhere) are coming out into the open.
Ok, walang penalty (fine) pag mag-Taglish o pure Filipino (Pilipino or Tagalog) tulad ng ginagawa sa ibang mga schools diyan. Basta i-voice out niyo na lahat para ma-settle na ito once and for all.
Note: inasmuch as I would want to be a purist myself, I am also afflicted with the disease of language corruption in finding myself speaking Taglish like Kris Aquino if I don’t make a conscious effort not to. For many, it’s a hard habit to break.
My stance with this has always been against the snobs who thinks that the local dialects are useless and how often am I mistaken for being ignorant and that I’m against learning English. Take that of whether I’m pro-English or against it I don’t really care..
This is getting tiresome. As much as I like reading most of this site’s posts I’m just going to ask. Are we here to discuss how to improve our society, then eventually the country, or just mock the rest of the Filipinos who don’t think like some of us do?
Today’s post is all about the declining quality of English skills of the Filipinos in general, especially in the school. There are other posts in the site that discuss issues relevant in the Philippines and that has nothing to do with the decline in the proficiency in the said language.
Today’s post is about mocking and lampooning and lambasting Pinoys for their cultural, intellectual, spiritual, physical, mental, psychological, digital, philosophical, practical, psychical, mythical backwardness.
Well it’s true.Don’t like it? prove them wrong. Let’s not shoot the messenger like what the typical Peenoise would.
Alam ko marami ang kinikilig sa AlDub, pero dapat nating maunawaan na hindi sina AlDub ang magbibigay sa atin ng hanap-buhay.
(switching to English mode)
This topic of Excellence in English is a matter of national security and survival. It may be our last bastion of strength warding off eventual economic defeat. Are we going to protect our niche/turf or not?
This is more important than the “Spratlys issue” (creeping foreign/Chinese invasion) !
Our decision now on whether to go back to pursing Excellence in English can be a matter of life or death to many Filipinos with millions of potential jobs at stake.
So break out from the AlDub spell and get back to the real world!
Confucius say man who don’t learn english fall asleep in philippines,wake up in philippines….
I remember back in the 90s learning English outside school. I like reading encyclopedias to learn about the world.
Then 90s US cartoon showed like X-Men, Batman, Ghostbusters, Spider-Man and we liked it. Only thing hindered us were the rolling blackouts thanks to The Old Yellow Bitch Era. Then there were Marvel comics and their trading card to read the characters’ bio profile. Those comics were so expensive like prices were almost tripled.
Then most good shows were shown from cable. Animes dubbed in English were mostly bad but at least they showed uncut, less ads, and understandable flow of story unlike animes of EBAK-CBN full of edits and more ads to cut air time.
I sensed the shits coming in the 90s so I had to prepare myself to be fluent in English before migrating to US.
The US opened my mind to many things like the education system, types of criticism and how to become a critic, ways of professionalism, world class customer service, and how to enjoy watching sports like NCAA & National Football League.
Eh, not everything from the US is a good thing. Unchecked capitalism, disdain on anything remotely socialist, constant politucal correctness, its own brand of ethnocentrism, stupidity and arrogance etc. I could go on.
It is a great nation, but to make it sound like it’s the Second Coming just reeks of the ol’ colonial mentality, which isn’t any better than the average Peenoise Prayd.
“People! English is about the only clear leverage we have in this region of the world even as we struggle to advertise the Philippines to be a major tourist destination and a location foreign investors would consider setting up shop in and here we are flushing this pearl of a competitive advantage we’ve been blessed with down our stinking clogged sewers.”
– Really? just English? sure it helps with Tourism but it doesn’t give them a good reason to stay longer in the Philippines versus countries with better infrastructure and a unique culture for that country. How about other fields we can be good at (apart from service industry)? Or is just English..
I can’t think of anything else the PH has to offer that other countries don’t. Even Thailand has better “services” for the buck.
We have almost no other leverage over other countries in the region. Our claim to be the only predominantly Christian nation in the area is a sham considering the high crime rate and low standard of morality.
Now there could be one other leverage but it may be debatable/controversial – and that’s the abundance of gullible easy-to-get women who will fall for any foreigner willing to be her Clan’s ATM for life.
Filipino catholics spread like rabbits. Abuses it and can’t feed him/her.
You’re off-topic, dude. Stop your religious bigotry.
What “it”?
Well maybe this comment has some relation to the topic. This actually makes for a good sample and case study showing why Pinoys need to get back to practicing English more.
I am yet to see a tricycle driver reading a Tom Clancy novel while waiting in line for passengers to come.
Asa pa.
May pambili siyang pang-Tom Clancy?
Of course I’m not gonna say the Pinoy on the street reads a lot of books, or in any case the amount of books that I have — but please. A tricycle driver is hardly Scrooge McDuck.
Please, not like a pulp fiction novel is worth its weight in gold. If he really wanted to, he could simply set aside his meager wage to save up to buy it. He is simply unwilling to buy it because it is outside the scope of his small world.
“Hunt for Red October” should be just a few hundred pesos.
The common tricycle driver can surely buy a copy if he didn’t keep hunting Red Horse beer whenever he has money to spare.
We need to inspire the masses to gobble English books rather than waste their precious lives on useless TV shows or video games.
Let me share my experience.
When I was a kid, I saw a carpenter reading Plain Truth magazine. I also saw a few blue-collared workers reading Time and Newsweek magazines. That happened in the 90s. I should know because one of them is my late father (who is an avid reader of the Reader’s Digest) and the others are his co-workers. They are not college graduates and may not be eloquent English speakers but they sure can compose a sentence enough to be understood by any foreigner that would talk to them. Also, the benefits are evident in the way they talk to others: polite, sensible, and not all-knowing but they sure can put a politician to the test based on the kinds of question they’re asking. I saw that one time during the 1992 elections when they threw questions to one campaigning candidate for municipal councilor.
You might ask where did they get those reading materials. They were constructing a building then for an institution ran by nuns. These nuns kept lots of reading materials and they just burn a few old ones while some are kept in a small library. The workers either take some home or just read before burning them.
Based on that, I concluded then that there are Filipinos, even the lowly ones, who thirsts so much for knowledge and wisdom and would grab every opportunity to learn and be informed. Sadly, I rarely see Filipinos like them now. Instead, I usually hear a few adults and teens repeat nonsense, idiotic catchphrases that I often hear in popular TV shows and YouTube videos. I don’t know with you but to me that is an indication that they opted to use their time the wrong way.
From zaxx’s:
“We need to inspire the masses to gobble English books rather than waste their precious lives on useless TV shows or video games.”
Truly. And should reject at every chance excuses such as below:
“Wala kaming oras para d’yan.” (- Sus, pero may oras kayo manood ng landian sa TV.)
“Simpleng tao lang kami. Ayaw namin sumakit ulo namin.” (- Ibig ninyong sabihin yung mga nagsisikap na hindi maging mangmang e mga “alien” (hindi pangkaraniwang tao e) at libangan nilang saktan ang sarili nila?)
“Mas gugustuhin ko na lang manood ng tele-serye kasi may values din naman yun.” (- Oo naman. Di ko naman sinabing wala. Kaya lang, ano mang sobra masama na rin, di ba? Isipin mo, mula tanghali hanggang gabi, ganun ang tema ng palabas. Balita lang ang pahinga saka sign-off.)
“Dapat good-vibes lang” – Ganyan na ganyan din ang sinasabi ng drug addict sa kanto sa may amin, lalo na pag-high. Baka lang kasi nakakalimutan natin na may mas mahalagang bagay pa na inaasikaso natin kesa manatiling good vibes. Halimbawa na lang:
1. Nalinis nyo na ba ‘yung alulod ninyo o ano mang puedeng pamahayan ng lamok sa bakuran nyo? Uso Dengue ngayon. Palagay nyo ba, magagamot ng good vibes ‘yan.
2. Nakapag-parehistro na ba kayo para sa halalan?
3. Tinulungan nyo na ba ang mga anak o kaya kapatid n’yo gumawa ng assignments nila?
4. Alam na ba ninyo kung ano na ang lagay ng laban natin sa UNCLOS? Tapos na ang FIBA, baka puede namang ito ang pagusapan natin.
You forgot that the tricycle driver has a family to feed. Why waste time buying random novels if you can’t even buy enough rice for a week?
What Gagong Lipunan (of all people) said.
Before you bully the hapless tricycle driver and call and do him all kinds of shit, try putting yourself on his shoes. Try approaching the guy on a slow day, ask him without patronizing condescension — Do you read books as a pastime?
A little air off the hoity-toity elitist bubble does wonders. Of course, not acting like a conceited asshole can make mountains move, but baby steps.
Eh, I’d rather tell it like it is and lord of my intellectual superiority to him. Whether he accepts his inferiority or tries to gut me, I still win either way.
“There is no need to be mayabang (have too much “Pinoy Pride) and defensive about the Tagalog language. Just because Filipinos pursue excellence in English language doesn’t mean they have to give up their native tongue.” – Aeta
Exactly my point, no need for a reminder of what’s obvious!
I thought I’ve made it clear that, at the very outset, my position really is the same as that of MidwayHaven:
“The local languages can culturally connect us to each other, while English can connect us to the rest of the world.”
There is a distinction, however, a distinguishing difference in between the words “PRIDE” and “ARROGANCE”!
“PRIDE” (pagmamalaki) “is a feeling of self-respect and personal worth!”
VS
“YABANG” (arrogance) “is overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors.”
***
EH, SINO BA ANG NAGYAYABANG DITO?! ‘IKA NGA, MGA MAHANGIN AT MAS MAYABANG PA SA LAMOK!
“I am sorry but tagalog is not worth learning and my children will be English only.” – VR
“Tagalog, as a national language only served to inhibit, to be divisive, of this country instead of unifying it.” – joeld
“In pursuing blind ‘nationalism’, we have probably “thrown the baby out the window with the bath water”.” – Vagoneto Rieles
“Yes. Yes! At all costs, yes! Even that of our national identity!” – MMX
“To ignore it and lose competence for the sake of some childish “national identity” is simply stupid.” – Jerry Lynch
“That is if we use the correct forms of the English language, and not “Taglish” crap that does nothing but make our people sound more stupid.” – Aeta
***
IS TAGALOG REALLY VERY LIMITED? (MAYBE… AND MAYBE NOT! SO I THINK I WILL LEAVE THAT TO THE EXPERTS!)
“The trouble with Tagalog, is that it is a very limited language, there is no differentiation for brother/sister, he/she, husband/wife etc.” – Edward
“Compared to the richness of English, Tagalog is very limited in the depth of its descriptive words (adjective and adverbs), and often have a different translation for the same word in English.” – Aeta
What is then the accurate, direct English translation of the word “BANGUNGOT”? Is it “NIGHTMARE”? NO, IT IS NOT! A nightmare is a very bad dream and doesn’t cause death!
Scientists call it “acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis” but that doesn’t explain the paralysis or the bad dreams. And some call it “Sudden Unexpected Death During Sleep” (SUDS).
(“SUDS”?! Aren’t they the froth produced by soaps or detergents?!).
Anyway, what’s interesting is, this phenomenon was FIRST DESCRIBED IN A 1917 MEDICAL LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES.
“Such a framework seems particularly appropriate when looking at the fascinating phenomenon of SUDS (Sudden Unexplained Death During Sleep). Though SUDS first appeared in the medical literature 1917 in the Philippines, where it is referred to as ‘bangungut’ (Guazon 1917), it was largely forgotten until the late 1970s when it regained notoriety as an important cause of mortality among Southeast Asian refugees in the United States, particularly among young men (Baron et al 1983).”
http://kevishere.com/2010/09/26/killer-ghosts-broken-hearts-the-mystery-of-sudden-unexplained-death-in-sleep-in-asian-men/
And how about the word “KULIT”? The FilipiKnow website has this to say:
“Some would argue that kulit actually translates to pesky. Quite, but not quite.”
“You see, pesky (negative) is annoying. But kulit is not only used in the negative “Tigilan mo ‘ko sa pangungulit mo!”, there’s also hint of positive playfulness about it especially in this context: “Kinukulit ako ng anak ko kung kelan daw ako uuwi”.”
“It is also used to fondly describe somebody who is funny “Ang kulit talaga ni Ryzza Mae, natawa ako sa jokes nya!”. Kulit may also be used to describe something that’s unique, new or cool “Grabe ang tugtog na ‘to, ang kulit!”.”
http://www.filipiknow.net/tagalog-words-with-no-english-translation-3/
***
IF HAVING PRIDE (IN YOUR ENGLISH) IS SOMETHING TO BE “MAYABANG” ABOUT, THEN, IPAKITA N’YO NA ANG “YABANG” N’YO!!!
And if you think that English is that richer than Filipino, what is then the direct translation of some these Filipino words in English?
1. Pang-ilan
2. Daw/Raw
3. Sungkit
4. Lihi
5. Alimpungatan
6. Suya/Umay
7. Pang-ilan
8. Pektus
9. Pitik
10. Usog
11. Tampo
12. Basta
13. Gigil
14. Pagpag
15. Pasma
16. Lihi
17. Ewan
18. Panghi
19. Baduy
20. Pikon
21. Kwan
22. Baldog
23. Lambing
24. Balisawsaw
25. Naman
26. Libag
27. Sumbat
28. Ngilo
29. Pasalubong
30. Tutong
31. Ngalay
32. Sigurista
The EXPERTS, I beleive, has more!
From the article “Tagalog vs English? Take the 30-word challenge!”
Mr. BenignO, in one of those Tagalog-vs-English “debates”, recalls participating in the online message forum Peyups.com. There, he proposed “a kind of a test on the efficiency by which Tagalog can articulate complex concepts by issuing a challenge to translate the following text into Tagalog”:
***
“Just because molecular irregularities cause a ballbearing’s radius to vary by nanometers along its surface does not stop us from attributing a spherical quality to it at a macro level.”
***
The performance criteria is simple:
1. To articulate in one sentence using 30 words;
2. To match that economy of expression using Tagalog; and
3. To maintain the clarity, conciseness, and completness (the “three C’s”) of the original message.
In that forum, one participant named “bazookabubblegum” came up with this one:
1. bazookabubblegum (did it at 32 words):
“Dahil ba ang di-pantay na pagkakamulatil na nagdudulot sa pagbabago ng sukat sa lihit ng bolitas sa nanometro ay di ibig sabihin walang kinalaman ito sa anyong pantimbulog sa pangkalahatang antas.”
He introduced the following Tagalog words:
mulatil (mulaang butil) = molecule
lihit = radius
timbulog = sphere
2. BenignO (“took a stab” at 35 words):
“Bagama’t ang pang-molekyular na irregularidad ay sanhi ng pagbabago ng reydyus ng bolbering sa sukat na nanometro ay di sapat na rason na di nating i-regard ang mala-bolang kwalidad nito sa makrong lebel.”
Curiously, Mr. BenignO, perhaps, wanted to know if there are more willing “to defend the dignity of our beloved Tagalog dialect by coming up with better translations”. So he asks, “Any takers?”
True enough, in the comments section, two more took the challenge:
3. BULARAN (came up with his’ at 26 words):
“Ang di-pantay na pagkakamulatil na nagdudulot ng ga-nanometrong pag-iiba sa lihit ng isang bolitas ay hindi hadlang sa pag-uuri nito bilang timbulog sa isang macrong antas.”
P.S. mulatil, lihit, and timbulog can be found in old Tagalog and Filipino dictionaries.
4. Marvin Kaiser (as if saving the best for last, did three versions with an even more economical number of words!)
– “Hindi nangunguhulugang walang kinalaman ang lihit ng bolitas sa anyong pantimbulog sa pangkalahatang antas
dahil lang nagdudulot ang tiwaling pagkakamulatil sa pagbabago nito sa nanometro.” (at 25 words)
– “Hindi nangunguhulugang walang anyong patimbulog ang lihit ng bolitas sa pangkalahatang antas
dahil lang nagdudulot ang tiwaling pagkakamulatil sa pagbabago nito sa nanometro.” (at 23 words)
– “Hindi nangunguhulugang hindi patimbulog ang lihit ng bolitas sa pangkalahatang antas
dahil lang nagdudulot ang tiwaling pagkakamulatil sa pagbabago nito sa nanometro.” (at 22 words)
And what Mr. BenignO can say about this realization pertaining to the above exercise?
“I believe, English is efficient.” “I am conceding, however, that a past experience of mine (refering to the above) had challenged the assertion that English is an “efficient” language.” “Brilliant! Well done! :)”
http://getrealphilippines.com/2011/04/tagalog-vs-english-take-the-30-word-challenge/
What is my point in all of these?
As for me, all I can say is that we may never know the value of what we may have lost (art, literature, language, history, our culture as a whole) during the “COLONIAL DESTRUCTION” during the “COLONIAL PERIOD”, so we might as well save as much of what we have now (not only for ourselves but) for the future generation! And it’s not such a bad idea, if you think about it!
You forgot one common Tagalog word that cannot be translated well to English – “opo” and it’s variant, “po”.
Though in Asian languages with honorifics, this is possible, Japanese as one of them.
Maraming Salamat! The EXPERTS do have more!
Although I agree with you at some point, quoting me with “Tagalog, as a national language only served to inhibit, to be divisive, of this country instead of unifying it.””This is a fact. Not “pagmamayabang”.
Let me take you back to the old times, son. Decades ago, you go to the more remote parts of the Mountain Province, your tagalog will be useless. You have to communicate with the locals in english. Same as when you go to he far south of the Philippines. There were no inhibitions as the english language is foreign to both. Hence the feeling of being equals.
Now the tagalog speakers have influenced every part of the country which has given other dialect speakers the thought of being inferior to them. It has inhibited the otherwise harmonious “we are equals”.
Instead of capitalizing on the archipelago’s vast dialects, and unifying them with english, we now have bastardized tagalog, to cause animosity among other dialect speakers. The individual dialects within the archipelago could have given way to giving each dialect their own identities and rich culture. Now everybody somehow puts an effort to speak bastardized tagalog just to be a pinoy.
It’s Filipino, Our language is called Filipino not Tagalog.
For this concern of yours, you may wanna see the video above!
Tagalog is the dialect. It was only called filipino after imperial manila declared it as the national language regardless of the existence of other dialects. What is the difference?
Filipino is Tagalog combined with words from other regional dialects. Or so my Professor says.
The list of words has different translation depending on what point it is use. Asian language not only Filipino does not really translate well in English.
I myself cannot express myself clearly in English, well in my work whenever I make emails, letters, there are some points, topics, and ideas I wanted to express, but came out different in English, I have to go to google and find a much suitable words to use to express myself clearly. Yes we need to pursue excellence in English since its a universal language but not at the expenses of our National language. We must pursue excellence in both.
Filipino not Tagalog, there is a big difference. My Filipino professor back in my college days, always says before ending our class ” Ang ating wika ay Filipino, hinde tagalog” Filipino language is a mixture of different dialects, though mostly Tagalog wordings are used, it is because many Filipinos before can easily understand Tagalog, words from other language that doesn’t have a direct translation were adapted to fill in the deficit. The formation of Filipino as the National Language is to unify our country.
I don’t think so.
Source. Interesting article. You’ll a bit how to distinguish dialect and languages.
Moreover, don’t you think it’s not in the best interest of your Filipino professor that Filipino is associated with Tagalog
Yabang Pa!
I never said Pinoys are Mayabang. Instead, what we are Hambog. Hambog is something inherently Filipinos because of who we think and believe we are, even if it’s not true. I disagree that our Tagalog dialect connects us to each other. If that is the case then the Visayan, Ilocanos, Bicolanos, and etcetera would all be tight-knit with each other, even though most of them don’t speak Tagalog. I think you are just making those assertions up.
Aeta
I think that last sentence is contradicting
Your mastery of the English language will take you far in any Realm, in your pursuit of Excellence…The World is on Globalization. Other foreign languages that you can speak/ write and read will also give you an edge.
Employers in Fortune 500 Corporations; are looking for multi lingual people. Who can deal with their foreign clients. Fortune 500 Corporations offer the: best pays, benefits, perks, etc…
Taglish is like mixing 2 types of food that should be eaten and enjoyed separately (like adobo and vanilla ice cream) and mixing them in a blender.
The sickening combination has become so wide-spread that people began to like it.
We can still undo the Taglish disease that has afflicted everyone, but it will take discipline and attentiveness in sentence construction. Here’s the rule if you care to adopt it:
If you start a sentence in English then finish it through with English all the way.
The same goes if you start with Tagalog. You can borrow nouns from the other language but do so sparingly.
You can alternate between languages as long as the rule is applied consistently. Maybe later we can extend the rule to paragraphs.
Can we have the First Sister approve and use this as she is the model of the Pinoy masses? Maybe then we will see some improvement away from the current state of corruption in language use in this country.
Going by your logic, is Singlish also a disease? As does Manglish?
Whether you like it or not, Taglish is now considered a creole language (if you know what that means). It’s hard to remove that because it’s a natural course for any nation with native languages and at least one European language. Just let it be. Or better yet standardize it so as to distinguish it to the formal form of English, which I support.
Hey a defender of pidgin language here.
So Mr. Emilio, magrarun ka ba for president sa coming elections?
Since the vanguards of the national language are now helpless against this disease called Taglish we are now all infected with mainly due to their own shortcoming in failing to nip it in the bud before it got to this irreversible stage, all we can do is appeal.
But i do stand by my original view that Taglish is detremental to both original languages.
Bale Ginoong Emilio, tatakbo ka ba sa susunod na halalan?
1. The latter pure tagalog version sounds much more elegant – does it not?
2. The national laguage only stands to lose with the possible dying out of words like takbo and halalan.
3. Taglish is confusing to write: is it supposed to be
a. magrarun
b. magrurun
c. mag-ra-run
??? looks like verb inflection gone pathetically haywire
Or shall we just leave these spelling rules to the Filipino masses as they go about in the thing which they do best – PERVERTING everything they can lay their hands on?
What Taglish loses in elegance it gains in terseness. The results might not be pretty, but no one ever claimed English (especially the American variant we grew up with) was a lyrical language.
Pallacertus,
“Terseness,” you say? Sounds more like laziness for not trying to learn English and Tagalog the correct way. English may not sound lyrical like French and Spanish, but it is very rich and serves a practical purpose. Otherwise, the rest of the world would not recognize it as an international language.
Aeta
Correctly? Why, Aeta, the sentence zaxx gave as an example — apart from the sudden intrusion of an English word, what is wrong with it from the standpoint of sentence structure in both languages?
Wala, di ba?
Also, I’m not disputing that English has deeper wells to draw upon than Tagalog, but its premiere position is strictly a consequence of time and external pressures early on in its development. To praise one for being adaptable to changing conditions then punishing the other for trying to do the same by fits and starts, using as a model a language not even of the same linguistic family, — well, I don’t know what to think of it.
Odious would be a start.
Pallacertus,
English must have done something right, as a language, in the last few centuries to pressure its way into the global mainstream, or, it would not have survived the test of time.
I have already explained to you that the fusion of both English (Tag-lish) was fostered out of laziness by Filipinos, to keep themselves from learning both language in their respectively correct form.
English is not punishing Filipinos for using it. Instead, Filipinos are punishing themselves for adhering to a dialect (Tagalog) that Filipinos from other regions do not even share nor use; thus, widening the already existing disaparity and division among ‘all’ people of the Philippines.
Aeta
My friend “Aeta” directed me to “Get Real Philippines” if I wanted to learn about the real Philippines. I call Aeta “my friend” because we started out on an adversarial footing related to one basic subject. But after seeing his responses, on a variety of subjects, I must say he and I share a lot in common. I won’t put in my two cents worth on a subject best left to the citizens of the Philippines, but I must say I am enjoying the discourse! Very worthwhile commentary from the majority of posters.
-Atila-
Richard Noar (“Atila”),
I’m glad to see you took me up on my invitation to start posting on Get Real Philippines. You’re absolutely right. We did start off on the wrong footings, but learned to respect each other’s opinion in the end. I’ve got to let you know, though, there are a lot more intellectuals on Get Real Philippines than in Yahoo, and will both of us on the edge of our seats; but that’s good. Those are the challenges that will keep our respective wits sharpened and keep us on our toes. I’m glad to hear from you again, my friend.
Regards,
Aeta
Richard Noar (“Atila”),
I’m glad to see you took me up on my invitation to start posting on Get Real Philippines. You’re absolutely right. We did start off on the wrong footings, but learned to respect each other’s opinion in the end. I’ve got to let you know, though, there are a lot more intellectuals on Get Real Philippines than on Yahoo, and will keep both of us on the edge of our seats; but that’s good. Those are the challenges that will keep our respective wits sharpened and keep us on our toes. I’m glad to hear from you again, my friend.
Regards,
Aeta
If the Philippines does not teach its young to speak English the country will fall behind Bangladesh and that is as bad as it gets.
Angela Markle,
You meant “English” and not ‘Taglish,’ right?
Aeta
Before I start, allow me to share my view on languages, dialects, etc.
* I’m primarily pragmatic in my use of language. Basically, if a particular way of saying something (English, Tagalog, Taglish, etc.) helps me get across what I want to say, then I’ll use it.
Taglish is a linguistic phenomenal called code-switching, which is actually a natural outcome of a bilingual or multilingual society. This is not just limited in the Philippines, but rather common in places where one speaks more than one language.
Personally, I use Taglish and I know when to use it or when to use English only. Allow my to provide some scenarios:
* Buying something from a street vendor – for this case, I maximize Tagalog and use English sparingly, only words I’m sure the street vendor knows.
“Pabili ng kendi”
* Ordering in Starbucks and similar establishment – since all items are in English names, when I insist on buying a particular order in its Tagalog version, I’ll get a confused face. For this case, I’ll say something like this
“Isang order ng Chocolate Cream Chip, venti”
* Discussing with my pinoy IT teammate on a strategic move the project will take – since there will be an exchange of technical terms in computer which are predominantly in English, I’ll throw some English phrase and sentences.
“May review tayo ng modules with the client. Make it sure na wala na defect”
Purist may cry out on how I “mushed up” Tagalog with English, but, frankly, as long as I get my message across to my teammates, as long as I made my client happy, then I’m done. After all, purist don’t pay my paycheck, the client does 🙂
* Talking with international client – This is the time I switch to English. After all, they won’t understand Taglish at all.
Basically, in conversation, I have to know what my message is and I have to know who my intended audience is.
Now, here are some cases that you shouldn’t use English
* Going to Jolibee, ordering items while speaking in English only – English in the Philippines is a prestige language, hence speaking this to those with limited capacity for English is a projection of perceived intellect. Frankly, such customer wanted to intimidate the crew.
To re-iterate, language is just a tool, a means to achieve one’s goal. If Taglish does it in the right place and right circumstance, why not?
Telling it like it is!
“…language is just a tool, a means to achieve one’s goal.”
Finally a breath of fresh air! This is by far the best and most realistic comment, in about over a hundred comments, that I’ve read in here! And, as far as I’m concerned, it is by far the most acceptable to the larger group of people if you would just somehow conduct a random survey. The position taken and the attitude exhibited reflects the sentiments of more Filipinos.
Gets his message across without the Pretense of Superiority and Arrogance of the Pseudo-Intellectuals prevalent in this site! Truly coming from a Man of Balance… a Learned Individual! Convincingly Diplomatic, Simply Honest, Practical and Sane!
GRP writers and commenters ought to learn from this guy! This is what it’s all about being “True To Form” behind the GRP statement “We beg to differ.”!
OnesimusUnbound,
It is fine to teach the Filipino children “Tag-lish” if they have already mastered one, preferably both, English and Tagalog—before they delve into fusing these two language into one.
As a former educator of methods and fundamentals, I have always been a big proponent of teaching and mastering the basics before moving to the next level. The problem with Filipino children learning Tag-lish, and mastering it, is they will think this is the correct way to use English and Tagalog in their correct forms, and will not even make the effort to master the basics of either language.
I have seen this phenomena among many students (and adults) in the Philippines; therefore, making Tag-lish a crux that will make the correctly fundamental way to read, write, and speak both English and Tagalog a monumental task, since these students have been accustomed to learning the shortcut methods of these two language first.
Aeta
The mere fact some Filipino say that they had a nose bleed after a conversation in English shows they know that English and Taglish differ. I can’t assure though if a Filipino can distinguish Tagalog from Taglish, but if you’re student studying “Filipino” and unable to differentiate Taglish from English, then it’s really a big problem. But if just wanna go ahead in life and function within the Philippine society, then distinguishing Tagalog from Taglish won’t really matter.
Correction: and unable to differentiate Tagalog from Taglish
OnesimusUnbound,
Huh? Why do I feel you’ve just send me on a merry-go-round? Please re-phrase your reply.
Aeta
Yeah, my message is messed up, sent from my mobile.
Can’t answer for children in general, but I believe Filipinos knows how to distinguish English from Taglish. The mere expression “Nakaka-nose bleed” after put their English skill to the edge shows they know their English skill is lacking. If they can’t distinguish Taglish from English, they won’t say that expression.
Do you know the root cause? You said it yourself
It seems to me that ‘Taglish’ started out as a supplement to the ‘English’ language for those who’d be short for words.. in ‘English’. I can’t imagine that it was meant to be a real ‘Language’ in and of itself. It really is just a corruption of both the ‘Tagalog’ and the ‘English’ languages. So.. enough of this ‘Taglish’ thing already. Let’s have ‘Tagalog’ as our national language and ‘English’ our official language. I don’t see why we cannot have both.. but spoken properly.
a country of non-functional english speakers and your laws are in english just one more barrier to equality. this is partly why there has been an ongoing revolt against english in this country. because it has been used as a tool to manipulate and keep people in the dark.
also should’nt taglish make it easier to learn english/tagalog (filipino my ___)?….if you start from the premise that the all three are in fact different languages
ice cube,
“Tag-lish” actually corrupts the correct way Filipinos should learn English and Tagalog—by cutting corners.
Aeta
take the following example:
magrarun ka ba ng president (taglish)
tatakbo ka ba sa pagka-pangulo (tagalog)
will you run for the presidency (english)
by acknowledging taglish….you can tell students that tag-lish is a language itself with its own structure and words that are similar to both filipino and english but different.
as one poster said taglish is here to stay, might as well use it as a teaching tool because it will not go away given the way our society is structured and our history.
ice cube,
Again, ask your average Filipino, who uses “Taglish” as a form of daily communication, on how well they know the grammatical rules that apply to English and Tagalog, respectively. The majority will say, no.
Aeta
Aeta, an inability to precisely explain the rules of grammar need not imply that the person being questioned is altogether of those rules.
At this point magbibigay ako ng illustration, pero I’m not good at making analogies. You’re not as bad as the other chaps here; try thinking this one up yourself.
Ask a seven year old American kid for the grammatical rules of the sentence he uttered in English. He’ll say “I don’t know, it just sounds right”.
“It just sounds right”.
Do you know why? Humans are soo good at detecting and using patterns. Humans, from toddlers, can detect pattern when the older people around them speaks. Moreover, with feedback and correction from parents, their language skill is refined further.
For a fact, all language acceptable pattern (grammar?) evolve. Does anyone know when to use “whom” from “who”? Should you or shouldn’t you split infinitive? Can proposition end a sentence?
I myself am a predominantly descriptivist in grammar, preferring pattern, tendencies, as the people use the language over time, instead of imposing grammar rules. After all, I wanna be understood by most people.
Pallacertus,
“Ask a seven year old American kid for the grammatical rules of the sentence he uttered in English. He’ll say ‘I don’t know, it just sounds right’.”
That’s an American kid and you’ll form two opinions about him: he either came from an educated or uneducated social background.
Ask a Filipino kids, especially an adult with a college degree, the same question. If he answers, ““I don’t know, it just sounds right.” You will begin to wonder what kind of English education is this person getting from a country that professes English as its second nationally spoken language.
Big difference.
Aeta
Tch. Addition on the post I’m replying to: “ignorant”.
Anyway, Aeta: mahirap talagang maghukay ng analogy, especially in my case, as more often than not I use something so far removed from the experience of whoever I’m conversing with, na di siya maka-relate even with that attempt at clarification.
So let’s use something near and dear to my heart: me.
Tatanungin kita: from what you’ve seen of me, anong masasabi mo tungkol sa educational background ko? Tungkol sa kinalakihan ko? Sa tingin mo ba’y makakaya kong ipaliwanag ang rules of grammar ng both English at Tagalog at great length kung mapipilitan?
Aeta,
No, you’re missing my point, my point is this
The pattern I’m talking about is what the children detected from the parents speaking, ensuring that people of the next generation accquires language skill without even knowing grammar. The gramatical “rule” established for a language is the result of linguist stuying these patterns and formalizing the them to rules. There are undocument language that people manage to speak and use to express thoughts and idea without knowing its gramatical rules. These people rely on patterns that make sense of what they’re saying.
Now, I want to make a point that I do not belittle the gramatical rules. I believe that the codification of gramatical rules ensures that one learns quickly, I just don’t think that mastery of language’s gramatical rule equates to language proficiency – it isn’t.
Before we start, we need to establish what is linguistic proficiency. Allow me to present a pragmatic way to assess one linguistic proficiency, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages or CEFR. This measures ones proficiency in language on how he’s able to read, speak, listen, or write base on the complexity of task at hand. See the chart from the link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages#Common_reference_levels
Now, base on CEFR, majority of Filipinos may fall to A1 or A2, which is lamentable considering jobs in business process outsourcing (BPO) requires B2 and up.
Now, how can a Filipino increase his level from A to B or C? One thing is for sure, grammar rules isn’t the only thing that helps. One sure way to increase his proficiency in language is by practicing it, which language learners call immersion. Specifically, he has to use the language when he listens, speaks, reads, and writes. Chatting, watching English films, writing to pen pal, reading articles of interest, etc. In the country where English is a minority language, one should *actively* find ways to increase his proficiency.
Well, Onesimus — that certainly is a help. Might as well concede the floor to you, as you know more about this than I do at first sight. I can only go so far with a piece of Mencken and whatever else comes to mind, as you can see.
OnesimusUnbound,
I didn’t miss your point, but I do think you’ve missed mine.
You are talking about children and how they learn by mimicking sights and sounds. I’m talking about adult learning–especially Filipino adults–who grew up watching American movies and television shows.
Filipinos have spent enough time immersing themselves in English-speaking movies and television shows, by repeating the modality, intonation, inflection of every English word they hear; and they do just fine while they are imitating those words.
However, ask these Filipinos to put these immitated English words into a context of a spoken sentence and paragraph–not to mention a whole passage that is complemented by the eighth part of speech and punctuations–and that is where you will notice whether these speakers know their grammar rules or not.
So, I disagree with you that grammar rules is “not the only thing that helps” when learning English. Grammar rules are the basis of learning English. You cannot successfully move forward in your English learning experience unless you’ve mastered it.
Aeta
Since I mentioned Mencken, the following might be instructive insofar as it mirrors my thoughts on the matter pretty closely (except that I won’t go so far as to burn the grammar books):
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43376/43376-h/43376-h.htm#
Aeta,
No, I’m talking more than mere sights and sounds. Humans as young as toddler has innate ability to infer rules base on the usage of adult around them and from the adult’s feedback.
I don’t agree one should learn grammar first to before mastering a language. But, first, allow me to share some nice story first
If one wants to improve on English proficiency (or any task for that matter) he has to do it anyway. He may make mistake, but, so what? He’ll correct on it, refine his skill, and continue. This is what we call the feedback loop, and it’s a very effective strategy to learn, not just for language.
For language learning, one has to use his language anyway. This is what we call immersion. Immersion isn’t limited to watching some foreign film. For this one, one has to use the language in its four aspect: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Below is some article on immersion:
http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/languageimmersion.htm
Of course, only people who earns a lot can go to foreign country to immerse. So, to immerse in a Philippine setting, a Filipino can use this one resource very useful resource
THE INTERNET
particularly
* writing email with your language partner
* watching education shows or videos on youtube
* posting on a English online forum
* skyping (but one has to be careful on this one. Some online predeator may take advantage, but nonetheless, there are other who are serious to learn, hence weed out the bad ones)
Of course, we can do traditional things like
* writing a journal
* have a Filipino friend and have an agreement to communicate exclusively in English
Well, the language classroom I envision is something like this:
– Day 1: a bit of a grammar lesson
– Day 2: use language in relation to the current culture
– Day 3: analysis on what happened and what to improve one
and repeat the cycle.
Well, I think my schedule is out of whack, but the ideal is mixing formal classroom with immersion. In this manner, language isn’t some sterile activity, but a living, engaging one.
Well, I doubt this will happen in a Philippine classroom, but it doesn’t excuse one to take personal responsibility to learn, including in English.
Pallacertus,
“Tatanungin kita: from what you’ve seen of me, anong masasabi mo tungkol sa educational background ko? Tungkol sa kinalakihan ko? Sa tingin mo ba’y makakaya kong ipaliwanag ang rules of grammar ng both English at Tagalog at great length kung mapipilitan?”
Only you can answer that question. That’s like asking me of what I think birds do when I don’t see them flying in the air.
Aeta
ice cube,
Yes, Tag-lish is here to stay but emphasize its use strictly in colloquial form, and not in formal writing or speech–that is often communicated by public officials and the news media–to prevent the masses (especially the young), from becoming complacent and not learn the correct (and arduous) way to learn English and Tagalog.
Aeta
There is no one way, never mind a “correct” one, to learn English or Tagalog — a living language, one borne out of experience and interaction, always thwarts the best efforts of grammarians and schoolteachers to rationalize and standardize it, as its users work their way to what they consider the most pithy or evocative or expressive locutions possible.
The only way to learn a language “correctly” is to kill it.
This is something that I can agree with completely. People must learn to separate the two languages when needed. Taglish has its place but when misused, it does become detrimental.
However, I would want to re-emphasize what OnesimusUnbound said about immersion. This is where we have a problem. We are provided a sword, but it is not sharpened. Most do not actually lack education regarding these grammatical rules. What actually lacks is a venue of practice for this people. An opportunity to sharpen this skill. But as some of us may have seen or experienced, people seem to impose, quote-unquote, “proper” places to speak English. If you do not speak in these “proper” places, you will be teased and judged. But luckily, as for myself, there were other ways to improve like reading books, watching TV/Movies, and now, blogs like these. I can say that this is what really helped me learn it. But for the current generation, though they have easier access to things that can help them learn now, it is buried by tons of crap. And given that they don’t have any immediate motivation to learn, they take the crap. Others will also follow too. A vicious cycle…
P.S.
One can learn all the grammatical rules like sentence structures, subject-verb agreement and many other stuff. But there are exception to the rules and that is why one must remember that this rules are to be treated as guides that are not set in stone. This is what makes practice and experience ever more important. I’m sure you won’t be able to recite all of those rules by heart. You just know in your guts that some statements are just wrong. Which in most cases is usually right.
Will these Filipino translations and/or approximations pass?
@Pallacertus
“Kung kailangan mong ipaliwanag ang “torque” sa akin, gumamit ka na lang ng visual aid — Latin iyan, ultimately from torquere, to twist (same with the words “tort” and “torture”), pero walang equivalent niyan sa Tagalog…”
* torture = pahirap, pahirapan, pagpapahirap, labis na pagpapahirap
* tort = kamaliang-sibil, pamiminsalang-sinadya
* torque = puwersang-pihit/pagpihit
@zaxx
Tagalog doesn’t even have words for “cute”, “convenient”, “precision” and “quantum electrodynamics”.
* cute = pabebe, nakatutuwa, marikit
* convenient = maginhawa, kombenyente
* precision = kaeksaktuhan, katumpakan
* quantum electrodynamics = kabuuang ????? (this is a tough one!)
“…what a chore to write all those repeating syllables like “sa pamamagitan ng” – when you can simply and compactly say “by” in English.”
There are ways to work around this, to shorten, like in this instance:
– Pinutol ang rehas sa pamamagitan ng lagare.
– Pinutol ang rehas gamit ang lagare.
– Pinutol ang rehas ng lagare.
English is not also guilty-free with this sort of “chore” you are mentioning:
sayang = what a waste, what a pity, too bad
bangungot = Sudden Unexpected Death During Sleep (SUDS)
BTW the English use of onomatopoeia for rhetorical effect tends to be foolish and/or totally unsound especially in children’s books! Why?
Filipino kids haven’t heard of any filipino rooster that crows “COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO”!
I like you. I should get back to reading my fair bit again.
Good try there Flip!
You have just proven that everyone’s use of Taglish is leading to the dying out of many Filipino words. Coz I have never heard of “marikit” since everyone keeps saying “ang CUTE naman ng baby!”
Personally, I prefer to not re-spell borrowed words to make it look Filipino. e.g. cute –> kyut. It looks awkward and cheap.
Aminin nalang natin – naubusan tayo ng bala.
Dying because the Pinoy is a naturally malicious animal — or dying because of the current attempt (more or less subconscious) to adapt the pith of English for Tagalog usage, even at the expense of Tagalog lyricism, without dumping the latter entirely?
Besides, when was the last time when “marikit” was in general usage? The 19th century?
our languages didn’t evolve on it’s own because of factors like:
1. diversity of tribes
2. colonization
Hence, we need to take advantage of the English language but not to the point that we would lose our cultural identity. so use vernacular to a fellow Tagalog or Cebuano. those who want to study Filipino culture/language then take the subject in college or wherever.
Our languages did evolve and do evolve, mostly through loanwords — the Chabacano dialects, most of them extinct, a few hanging on for dear life, is proof of one; Taglish is present proof.
All this Pinoy identity stuff makes me cringe, moreover: what ancient texts survive from precolonial times bear witness to ethnic and linguistic miscegenation. Filipino idenity is not something fixed and immobile — it is ever-changing, ever pliable, the rate of change glacial but inexorable, and it is best for us to take note of it and not vex ourselves to death because of it.
If you go and apply for a job, to any company in any industrialized advanced country. And, you show them your proficiency in Tagalog, in your resume. Do you believe, they will hire you?
The Philippines may have a good language, that is Tagalog. However, it is a Third World country. It has no advanced technological industries. It is a century behind in Science and Technology. Let us remove the Foolish Pride, in us…and accept the realities we have in our country and the world, as a whole.
I have not seen a Filipino won a Nobel Prize for any discovery or advancement in Science and Technology.
Aquino may have been eyeing that Nobel Prize…however, he missed it by a wide margin. So, he was content in buying a Honorary Doctorate degree at Fordham University, in the U.S…. If you cannot earn it; you buy it. Unfortunately, you cannot buy knowledge and competence….
29Hayden007Toro999.99995,
And don’t forget that Tagalog is just one of numerous dialects that is not shared, nor use, by Filipinos from different regions in the country; thus, widening the already existing rift among Filipinos, not only in the Philippines, but throughout the entire world.
Aeta
Then how would you explain why Eat Bulaga, a popular filipino tagalog-based television program, is so successful in uniting filipinos not only here in the Philippines, but in other parts of the world as well, in Asia, Australia, Africa, America and Europe!
Can Eat Bulaga have the same success in uniting filipinos around the world if it were using another filipino language that is not tagalog-based? I don’t think so!
Don’t ever mention Eat Bulaga in this blog, or else authors will once again bring up the ‘kababawan’ issue.
Ethan,
First, let’s get things right. Filipinos are not united. Second, “Eat Bulaga” is just a marketing scheme that capitalizes on the shallowness of Filipino mentality and a short-term remedy for Filipinos from overseas who miss home.
Aeta
“Kababawan” it is if they can’t explain or prove the case in point otherwise!
Aeta, you haven’t answered the question! Not satisfied!
Funny how the “mababaw” Pinoys manage to unite even for the shallowest reasons. But the “greater minds” and so-called “intellectuals” can’t even get their heads together to think of a solution which would effectively stomp out/change the mentality of Pinoys. We all know articles like this won’t do the job.
However there are two words/concepts for which Tagalog may have an overflowing plethora of words:
1. Stupid – or in Tagalog…
tanga gago ulul sira-ulo inutil bobo bano mangmang lokoloko baliw engot kulangkulang
2. Uncertainty – or in Tagalog…
Baka Siguro maari malamang bakasakali medyo
And you know why we have such a rich vocabulary for these? Because we’re drowning in stupidity and uncertainty in this country. So wake up the zombies before they sink this ship with everyone on board!
ILIBING NG BUHAY ANG MGA PA-SOSYAL!!!
SUXX,
Most Filipinos (about 99.9%) are “Pa-sosyal”—even if they cannot afford it, just so the “Matapobres” won’t say they’re poor or ‘can’t afford.’ Why do you think many Filipinos do things that are not only illegal, but also immoral and unethical? They’re trying hard to keep up with the “Sosyals.”
Aeta
Oooohhhhkaaaayyyy…Ang sakit sa ulo basahin lahat ng comments. It’s like I’m reading a grammar website. Hehehehehe.
Seriously guys, how can this be put into action? Is anyone making a move towards retaining English and Filipino subjects in today’s education?? Because IT IS NOT AT ALL PREVALENT.
Students in school are becoming more and more dumb. Philippines is breeding a culture of dumb people to satisfy their own selfish interests. Why convert written texts in English to mother tongues? BECAUSE THERE’S MONEY IN IT. Think of how many mother tongues we have in every region. THINK OF HOW MUCH THAT CONVERTS TO CASH. Long term planning has never been this good – at the expense of its countrymen.
The country’s leaders are all desperately trying to retain its countrymen’s sense of patriotism when today’s generation clearly do not have their minds and hearts set to it. Or if they are, they are being misled with all the GARBAGE BEING TAUGHT IN SCHOOL.
Alex,
And the Philippine government, schools, hospitals, and etcetera is about bringing in more cash. Everything else is second, third, fourht, or last.
Aeta
“Why convert written texts in English to mother tongues?”
Because not all of us are born with tea or burgers sloshing from cheek to cheek, yes? The notion that maybe people in vast parts of the archipelago first coming to school with at best a rudimentary grasp of English — it doesn’t seem to have entered your mind.
I don’t discount the role of money in all of this, but dear Lord, there is space yet for pedagogical considerations, such as “How the fuck do I teach X to my students?” — and how do you teach instruct impart if you insist that English is the only way the only truth the only light, and those little brown indios milling about your feet deserve to learn in a language they barely understand?
Dear God, we are more hundred years away from the Noli and Fili, and this bullshit still goes on. O Someone Whose Presence I Do Not Believe In — may you yet save me from more interesting times.
But see, that’s jut it. If you are unlucky enough to have been born and raised in a community of non-English speakers, and you come from a culture and society with zero track record of achievement in the sciences, no self-sufficiency in technology, and pathetic dependence on foreign capital, and you lack access to facilities and services where you could acquire English language proficiency (or any of the languages spoken by societies that are net creators of capital and innovation in science and technology), then guess what:
You’re basically toast.
If I were unlucky enough to be born in such a situation AND be ill-treated by educators whose concept of instruction is not the imparting of facts and figures and what else for the benefit of those ignorant of those, or at least ignorant of an alternative way to view them, and instead see themselves as intellectually superior and maybe just maybe morally racially what else really superior beings fit only to be stared at in awe if not fawned at without me understanding anything they say, because godfuckingdammit, their language is the language of the gods, mine of the streets, and BY THEIR WORD their language must not be sullied by the mullings of inferior indios —
— if I were that unlucky, I hope (“hope” is not strong enough a word) that I am as dumb as you want me to be.
…
And if not, if my wish to learn were to be thwarted by such unfit men, I hope that I might be able to take it and their (and your) pretensions in stride. This whole toast thing and all.
Who said anything about anybody ill-treating anyone or “thwarting” anyone’s desire to learn?
I think you misinterpret people who advocate the rule of English as a medium of instruction. The goal espoused here is that competent English instruction be made available to ALL Filipinos (not just Atenistas and Lasallistas, et al). When this is achieved, the monopoly of the elites over proficiency in this language will be broken and the doors opened by English will be available to ALL.
With such limited resources available to the education system, it does not make sense to waste these on languages that DO NOT open doors to its speakers.
This is not about who is superior and who is inferior. It is only about recognising the REALITY of which language opens doors to those who master it.
benignoO,
“The goal espoused here is that competent English instruction be made available to ALL Filipinos (not just Atenistas and Lasallistas, et al). When this is achieved, the monopoly of the elites over proficiency in this language will be broken and the doors opened by English will be available to ALL.”
Those are my thoughts, too. “Like minds think alike.”
Aeta
@Aeta, sometimes what you take for granted as “obvious” turns out to be not-so-obvious to most. 😉
No, I’m not misinterpreting your point of view, benign0. We both have the same goal in mind — what I vehemently disagree with is the means with which that end is achieved.
You seem to think that what doesn’t directly contribute to the intellectual enrichment of the country (through acquaintance with resources that cannot be communicated, or that can be done so only with approximations if not obscurities, like those locked up within the annals of jurisprudence or within interminable computer code) ought to be dropped out of the Pinoy teacher’s arsenal of instruction.
I’ll be the first to admit that the vernaculars are limited as they are, but why should that be grounds to dump Tagalog altogether as a medium of instruction? Virtually every living Malayo-Polynesian language (not to mention living non-Romance languages in general) has to grapple with the fact that most of the world’s wisdom is locked up within European tongues. But has anyone among those affected by English or some other European language questioned the right of their own vernaculars to carry on as vehicles of literary, cinematic, or some other form of self-expression?
To my knowledge, no group of peoples that has admitted to themselves the superiority of a European language in conveying experiences foreign to the viewpoint of the users of their vernaculars has jettisoned said vernaculars in favor of that European language in expressing values and ideas native to them.
So why must our vernaculars — especially Tagalog — be put on the chopping block? If those nations now urging on its citizens to learn English didn’t think twice to retain their languages as mediums of instruction in their schools, why should ours walk the gangplank to obscurity?
@Pallacertus: I’m not saying that using the local languages be banned either. What I am saying is that the resources of the education system be channeled primarily to English instruction. What the students speak outside of the classroom is their business.
In a country where resources are insufficient, investing in local languages that do not contribute to marketability is a luxury that can be foregone. You want culture? Make sure you can afford it. For now, you need to get a job first then start spending on the frills when you’ve gotten out of your financial hole.
And, no, citing what groups of peoples do or not do in this regard is not an argument.
Not teaching them people the language they are born into and grow up with is effectively banning it. The effect of teaching sanctioned languages outside the context of the culture people get acquainted with before entering a classroom, whether through legal or cultural pressures, is the same: those people that learn whatever European or other language is being favored as the medium of school instruction may or may not forget the language of their kith and kin once they graduate or otherwise quit school, but they will definitely feel alienated from the culture the language carries forth. This is not important if you only want to get a job and get out of your country of origin as fast as you can, but not all life is striving for job security.
Nah. If a language is not taught in school, it will survive if it truly is useful. For example, since public schools teach mediocre English today, the private sector comes in to fill the gap. And so Filipinos who could afford an Ateneo education where English is taught to world-class standards are willing to spend the extra bucks — because English opens doors.
The only reason bleeding-heart “progressives” are clamoring for the public system to take up the use of these quaint indigenous dialects for instruction is because they WILL die if left unsupported — because proficiency in those languages are dead-end skills.
Sure, “not all life is striving for job security” as you say. But that only works when one can afford to live by that quaint philosophy. The reality is most Filipinos can’t.
@benign0
As someone who may have the same stance as Pallacertus, can I chime in?
First, I think the importance of the English language is already established. I think all of us do know that is indeed needed in today’s world, don’t we?
Second, should English education be prioritized in this country? Okay. Sure. I don’t mind it. It well help and it will surely be beneficial. But as for the elimination of local languages as a medium of instruction? This is where I think disagreements stem from. Many comments here seem to imply that local languages are for lazy and ignorant people. That it is useless to the point that it should be discarded completely. Well, in a global scale, of course it will seem like that. What would Americans or Europeans think of Tagalog or Bisaya? Nothing of course. That is why it is called a local language. Local to us. But what about in a local/national scale? Is it really useless to the point that it should still be discarded completely? IMO, it is not a matter of luxury mind you. It is a matter of reaching out to all Filipinos. Maybe a matter of efficacy? What do you think would be a more efficient method for English education? Teaching English by building upon a language already spoken by locals or Teaching English by starting from scratch?
Hmm… How about let’s try to look at it this another way:
A parent who does not know English well has conceived a child. how do you think will this child communicate when he grows? I’m thinking probably in the local language of the parent.
Majority in this country are poorly educated, this parent probably is too. Given that, this parent probably didn’t bother much to teach his child and just sends him to school because this is where one’s child should learn right? That it is there obligation to send their child to school. Actually, rephrase and emphasize it to parents /obligated/ to just send their child to school.
So what is the best way to teach children like these?
Do we try to teach them English immediately? Or do we first try to develop what they already know and start from there?
I think the second option will be better. At least we can start to develop basic comprehension and other stuff which the parent didn’t bother to teach. Maybe after that can we then introduce English education.
Maybe what I’m trying to say is keep local languages in basic education. It will act as a stepping stone for all other learnings especially for those who missed having the basics taught to them. As for college, make it optional. Don’t require to learn it. Basics would probably be enough. But still… Language is loosely tied to history and we do need to learn from history. So maybe encourage it to those that can afford the luxury?
Lastly, on if Filipino/Tagalog is to be used as a local “national” language for the country, well… I don’t know and I am now not sure. It may not be prevalent but it is still pervasive thanks to media and its declaration as a national language. But I won’t delve into that as i can’t say I’m in a position to say anything. Probably to biased as I am from metro Manila.
But again, to reiterate, I’m for keeping local language as a medium of instruction even if just for basic education. But English education must be pursued as it is important in the long run. And as for what I mean by local language, be it Tagalog, Bisaya, Waray, etc. Anything will do. As long it can help people learn easier. So I’m pragmatic about local languages? And thinking about it now, I can start to picture what joeld said about different localities talking to each other in English during official businesses but talking in their native tongue when speaking to other locals… It seems to be wonderful…
Most of the vernaculars we have are still being spoken and written by sizable chunks of the population. Tagalog most prominently, but also Bikolano, Waray, Cebuano, Hiligaynon… these are not quaint dialects, these are not the linguistic equivalents of patients on life support. These are living languages (or dialects — linguists on the matter can and will split hairs on pedantry), whose very existence carries forth the customs of the very living peoples that speak them. Their only sin, evidently a cardinal one to you, is their inability to contain properly certain aspects of modern knowledge developed and then conveyed through European tongues — a matter that can be glossed over by making students know the conceptual limits of their vernaculars, and by teaching the other language without imparting the idea of intellectual or cultural superiority.
Taking the vernaculars out to reallocate resources towards English immersion will not take the air out of them, but it will create a sense of cultural alienation among those people learned through the sanctioned language — a sense that their worlds can spin without or by ignoring the people who speak the vernaculars as stupid persons, when ignorance of the sanctioned language does not equal stupidity on the vernacular speaker’s part.
(If you feel the need to be shown demonstrable proof, you need look no further than Africa. Any nation in Africa. All of Africa was once under European domination, and all of Africa, and those that have gained a measure of political stability have to contend with the sort of linguistic hang-ups similar to ours. Pick your poison. Then again you’ll probably dismiss this aside as “not an argument” — I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean by it, but let it slide.)
@AG, I’m inclined to subscribe to your view as far as people born into communities that do require an educational boost in the early years in their local dialect.
But the aim should be to wean them off their dialect and get them on the English programme as quickly as possible so that proficiency is developed as early in childhood as possible. As you said, communities across the archipelago united in English communication among themselves and with the rest of the world would be a beautiful sight to behold indeed.
Lazy people were not born that way, they were RAISED that way. Part of the raising of productive and competitive people involves getting them proficient in the languages spoken in world-class competitive arenas.
@Pallacertus, perhaps the above is a suitable view to run with. There is no doubting the niceness of local dialects. As you yourself said, the ones that sustain critical mass will not die out even if left out of the public education loop. Thing is, the survival of these dialects should be left to the market to decide. Chinese for example is not part of the Philippine curriculum. But it flourishes in the country on the back of the economic strength of the community that supports it.
Pallacertus,
You are just making up excuses for Filipinos not to change their antiquated and inefficient ways–by calling out to the gods and dead heroes–under the spirit of nationalism.
Aeta
This is Pallacertus calling out the patterns of the past to make sense of the present, yes? With the hope that by invoking said past, nothing that we deem valuable is lost, only those that we think are excessive or outdated?
It is by no means clear Tagalog is one such excess. In fact, given the current attempt by those you deem ignorant to meld the language together with English, even the phrase “by no means” is itself at least debatable.
Pallacertus,
You’re starting to scare me with your replies. You’re too deep for the common person to understand. You need to come up to the surface for some air sometimes.
Aeta
I think I should go ask directly: what’s too deep for you?
And by the way, I’m not a nationalist per se; I consider myself an internationalist, among other things. Whether my self-labelling holds when viewed through other lenses, that designation doesn’t preclude me from trying to helping my country establish an identity that is both inclusive and emphatic, free of self-doubt and insecurity about its place in the world, by affirming what remains of its precolonial past, highlighting the best aspects of the colonial interlude, and generally mining the world’s books and libraries and bookshops for insights on how other countries with colonial pasts ambled along on the path to self-rule without major hiccups (or stumbled to dictatorships or break-ups along tribal lines or whatnot).
That still too deep?
Pallacertus,
Deep is that philosophical rhetoric you’ve just ranted off about language on your last comment. Why don’t you just get to the point? Either the Filipino people master the English and Tagalog language–respectively in their own rights—or they don’t, and just stick to their “Tag-list” version of both language out of sheer laziness and ignorance.
It really doesn’t matter if you’re a Nationalist or an Internationalist (Filipinos love having titles or organizations—“Dr., Atty., Eng. Free-Masonry, and The Rotary Club attached to their names), it’s not going to change the price of rice in China, or, in the case of the Philippines, change the lives of the people there for the better.
Anyway, what the people lack in genuine cultural identity, they make up for it by adopting all these titles that will make themselves look good. Well, let me take that back. Filipinos do have a genuine cultural identity–The “Aetas” or the “Negritos”—but, they don’t want to be associated with their dark-skinned, curly top, and broad-featured ancestries; they’re just not as attractive and regally sophisticated enough as the light-skinned and sharp-featured of their former colonizers and benefactors.
No, what the Filipino people need to do is “go back to basics” of humbly accepting who they really are–whether good or bad—before they start assuming an identity that they’re not. If the national language is Tagalog, then master it. If the country’s adopted language is English, then master that as well. Don’t try to “bastardized” or “adulterate” both language by trying to fused them together, and calling it their own.
The Philippines, and its people, are divided enough geographically and by numerous regional dialects. We Filipinos don’t need to add to the complication by adding “Tag-lish” to intricacies because it seems convenient and practical. That’s what I means being “too deep” with your comment. Just get to the point, say it as it is, without going around in circles.
Aeta
But I’m getting to the point as I understand it. If what I say seems to you too deep, mind that I’m drawing upon every resource that I think pertains to this issue. (Plus I’m given to these flights of speculation. Sue me.)
I’m disturbed that you still insist on putting English and Tagalog (or indeed any of our vernaculars) on both ends of an either-or dichotomy, as if interaction is contamination and thus must be avoided. The sheer fact throughout linguistic history (or whatever term is convenient for the observation of the interaction between two or more languages sharing the same mind-space of a polyglot people) is that languages interact, influence each other, enrich one another by providing peoples with other points of view with which to see the world awound them and the other beside them. This is especially true of English, whether it be the British century and a half after the Norman Conquest of England, when it was marginalized in much the same way our vernaculars are today (with Latin and French storming the halls of power), or the American version, which has thrived as much on the tongues of immigrants from all over as well as on the bits and pieces of the languages of the pre-Columbian inhabitants just when the British variant dug down and insisted on Anglicizing dead languages for elitist flavor.
Our attempt to co-opt English for our uses as seen in Taglish is not laziness or ignorance (or not merely laziness or ignorance, though I cannot readily cite instances within Tagalog, as etymological studies of the language, how Tagalog has evolved over time and especially through the colonial period, are admittedly lacking) — it is a very sign of mental industry, in this case (as I’ve said before in different wording) admitting shorter versions of words we already have, all the better to engulf them in a sea of our culture, our mores and norms and views.
STUPID LEADERS.
AND EVEN MORE STUPID PEOPLE.
Jackie Chan once said that he felt the Chinese need to be controlled. Weeellll..
THIS COUNTRY NEEDS TO BE RUN BY A LEADER WITH AN IRON FIST. (and i’m not going to apologize for it.)
– TO WHIP EVERYONE’S MORALS INTO PLACE.
Alex,
Too late. The Philippines is already controlled by corrupt politicians and monopolozing Chinese-Filipino businessmen. Too late.
Aeta
I’ve said for years that the best thing that could ever happen to this country is for Manila (Metro area) to be hit with the most massive nuclear bombs available, along with Cebu, CDO, Davao and all other major urban areas. Then the entire country has to be subjected to a 5 year “NO child allowed” policy in which pregnant women and the men responsible for the pregnancy be killed and fed to the pigs.
Then the country could start over with an entirely new start, new officials and no Catholic Church. Maybe, just maybe, the survivors would read some of the books left behind and learn from foreigners how things SHOULD be done. Of course they could not read any books by Filipinos because the last known book written by a Filipino was written by Jose Rizal, who would no longer be a hero, but just another dead guy.
Then I thought you were a fucked-up bigot. Now I think you’re fucking psychotic. Still a bigot, but now with a dash of genocide (with radioactive aftertaste)
Congratulations ! Hope your alien — not foreign, ALIEN — genes get nuked to all nine hells.
This country only has enough land to support about 40 million people yet it has 110 million people so how else would YOU suggest you remove 70 million people? Yes a nuclear bomb is terrible, but at least it is fast and indiscriminate. It would flatten both houses of Congress and Malacañang along with a bazillion squatters. Probably the survivors would be the already practiced survivors currently living under bridges and other secret places. Darwin would not only be vindicated, but proven.
No — a nuclear bomb isn’t terrible enough. If you really want to contro population growth, you cannot be a just a racist asshole — since all living beings on this planet consume the equivalent of 1.2 earths per, clearly, more than just the Philippines will need to be wiped out.
Now, I dare you foot your ass on your mouth then munch on it.
Crazy bastard.
Aeta,
Hehehe. I guess you’re right. But still, I am hopeful.
Let us make things simple and non-threatening to anyone.
English is not important because it is better than any other language. It is not important because it is more “colorful” than any other language. It is not important because it is the language of America.
English IS important because it is the international language of business and if you want to do business outside this country (or attract tourists) you have to have competent English skills recognizable and understandable by the people you want to do business with.
English is a tool, not a god.
Some things we have to cast away as incapable of adapting to today’s tastes.
The vernaculars we have — Tagalog in my case — do not belong.
It is possible for me to communicate in both Tagalog and English and to see in both Taglish and the textspeak the grammatically fastidious make a point to bash the beginnings of an attempt at linguistic miscegenation and of shorthand respectively, and so to live on in a sort of modus vivendi.
If it is not possible for the likes of you to see it, fine — but nuking us for not taking your way?
Fuck you.
Pallacertus, I never said that Manila or many other big cities need to be nuked because you refuse to learn English. Those places need to be nuked because they are useless cesspools and also because the best thing that could happen to this country would be to remove the 50 million or so excess people here. Then remove all the prejudice against birth control so you stop breeding like rats or rabbits.
This Alien reminds me of Marius!
This sort of repulsive alien visitor scumbag in this country that the Abu Sayyaf should invite and turn over to ISIS!
Lynch This Alien Jerry!,
Jerry Lynch is telling the truth: “English IS important because it is the international language of business and if you want to do business outside this country (or attract tourists) you have to have competent English skills recognizable and understandable by the people you want to do business with.”
If you don’t believe Jerry Lynch’s assertion, just ask the thousands of Filipinos who work in call centers throughout the Philippines and as Overseas Foreign Workers; they might disagree with you. Our Pinoy Pride often gets in the way of accepting the brutal truth about our people.
Aeta
Jerry Lynch,
That about sums it up, Jerry. I don’t understand why everyone else is so against it.
Why do many Filipinos feel offended if you talk straight English to them? Accuse you of being “mayabang”.
Don’t they appreciate the chance to practice English, an opportunity many Koreans and Japanese will pay big bucks to have?
Instead we have to stoop down to use corrupted Taglish so we at least don’t appear to be condescending.
hay buhay, paano nalang aasenso taong bayan… Sigh
Yeah, no wonder no one will feel encouraged to practice their English skill when his peers thinks he’s arrogant. This general attitude of Filipino’s is not conducive for language learning.
I see Taglish as a result of need to fill out missing terms existing in the modern times. As mentioned here, Tagalog lacks (scant might be appropriate) thorough resources.
Isa lang ang masasabi ko sa mga kababayan ko
“Kung gusto, maraming paraan. Kung ayaw, maraming dahilan (o tamad, ayon sa nabanggit ng isang nagbabasa dito)”
OnesimusUnbound,
You keep coming up with lame excuses on why Filipinos do not learn English the correct way, and your arguments keep getting shot down with counter-arguments. Why don’t you just face the fact that the reasons Filipinos do not put forth the effort to learn English is not out of loyalty to their Tagalog dialect—otherwise Filipinos would not embrace the English part of their “Tag-lish” dialect, or, anything that has to do with English-speaking nations and people—but out of pure laziness and ignorance?
Aeta
Aeta
OnesimusUnbound laid out a valid argument there. That’s not an excuse, that’s the sad reality in our country. Pursuing excellence in English is not a bad thing, but suggesting that Filipinos should completely turn their backs on their own language, claiming that the total annihilation of the Tagalog dialect will make us better English speakers, is utterly insane. Kapag nangyari ito eh babangon sa sarili nyang hukay si Jose Rizal.
Why can’t we just pursue excellence in both English in Tagalog?
Aeta,
Talaga? saan? I really don’t see my arguments are countered convincingly at all.
I never said Filipinos don’t improve their English due to their so called loyalty to Taglish (me ganun, pro-Taglish?) I said
* Taglish is not the root cause why Filipinos fail with their English proficiency
* Filipinos fail to improve their English proficiency due to lack of immersion in English language
* Filipinos sadly don’t take advantage of the internet to actively immerse in English, like participating on online English forum, reading online articles, etc.
* Grammar and immersion go hand in hand in improving ones proficiency in English language
Laziness – possible
ignorance – what sort of ignorance? Ignorance of grammar? Ignorance of proper pronounciation? Filipinos are certainly aware of English, due to it’s prestige, so what sort of ignorance do you refer to? be specific, ha. Debate gets longer due to ambiguity of the issue discussed. Unless you specify what sort of ignorance you’re referring to, magme-merry go round tayo. Not sure if you’ll enjoy it – I don’t. I wanna go to the main point and decide from there.
Lau,
“Why can’t we just pursue excellence in both English in Tagalog?”
What you said is actually what my stance has been all along towards OnesimusUnbound in our previous discourses.
He is a strong proponent of “Taglish” vernacular, asserting this country/regional-specific dialect a sufficient enough for Filipinos to communicate with one another. And that is fine at the country/regional or Filipino-only level.
However, keeping the communication skills of the Filipino people at the “Taglish” level, only lowers the learning curve for the general population to pursue the needed skills to master both the English and Tagalog language in their respective, grammatically-correct form.
This phenomena (undermining the mastery of both English and Tagalog) has been inadvertently occuring since the addition of the Tag-lish vernacular in the already numerous regional dialects spoken throughout the whole country.
Aeta
*both English and Tagalog*, I mean..
OnesimusUnbound,
There you go again, “nickeling-and-diming” everything that others have said about the Filipino people’s failure to master English and Tagalog in their respective, grammatically-correct form–by embracing “Tag-lish” as the country’s popular vernacular–and end up ‘short-changing’ your arguments.
Yes, I said ‘laziness and ignorance.’ A person can be ignorant in two ways: deprivation and laziness.
The information is out there, but we Filipinos are just too lazy to get it unless it translates into a quick profit (with little to no effort on our part) or reinforces our short-term (forget long-term, for we don’t like thinking that far) Pinoy Pride image.
Aeta
Lau,
That’s fine. I understood what you meant.
Aeta
Aeta,
Ayun! I see your point of contention. Let me be clear on this part.
* You notice I never refer to the official language as Filipino, I call it Tagalog. This is to show that I’m sad that the official language didn’t grow to incorporate words from other languages in the Philippines. It’s simply Tagalog at it’s core.
* I’m never a “a strong proponent of “Taglish” vernacular”. (I can’t believe I’m seen as a pro-Taglisher!) Anyway, I’m simply pragmatic at using it because I can order my chocolate cream chip in Taglish. Keyword – pragmatism.
* I won’t blame you if you think I said Filipinos use Taglish. I’ve mentioned it somewhere. I wanna be clear with non-Tagalog speakers that I hoped Filipino will grow, incorporating other Filipino languages. Moving forward, I’ll use “Taglish speakers” to avoid confusion with Filipinos.
* For a nationwide language – Tagalog is a known language – (thanks to media :-S). Now if majority of Filipinos want to converse in English, fine, it’s more neutral politically among Filipinos. Just give me a language that I another fellow Filipino can use to talk.
zaxx,
That’s because Filipinos hate and fear something they don’t understand and unable to control. English being one of them.
Aeta
Makes me wonder why you’re always in this site posting all of the day and all of the night! All of the time!
Always the “I second the motion” to whoever!
Man Friday,
Makes me wonder why you wonder.
Aeta
I mean don’t you have other things to attend to?!
Man Friday,
I probably do, but, why is that any of your business? Why do I “always the ‘I second the motion’ to whoever!”? It’s simple. Why re-write something that already makes sense? I’ll just agree and elaborate if I need to.
Aeta
Aeta,
I second the motion. Hehehehehe.
English excellence is not the issue I would say. Koreans in my opinion are already making their way globally. From K-Pop to Koreanovela and the likes. They do have English language issues, still it did not stop some of them in making it BIG in their chosen field.
Until “talanka mentality” is removed, (with the aid of gossiping)until Filipinos , specially those who live locally learned to be happy for their neighbors. Learn and accept the idea of “i push you up, you pull me up mentality” significant changes would not be seen.
EtosiBoy,
The “Talanka Mentality” will never be removed because every Filipino doesn’t believe he or she is afflicted by it, and it’s always the other Filipinos who are. Well, if you have that kind of ‘self-denial’ attitude, how can the Filipino people rid themselves of their “Colonial and Crab Mentalities”?
Aeta
Based on what you’ve said, that ;” The Talanka Mentality will never be removed “. I felt your hopelessness for our country. I believe your Filipino as well. Right? With this, I respect your point and that’s all that matters. I just believe that whether we need a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE reinforcement to heal most of our countrymen. I’m sure both you and me will agree that there’s a part in our heart that hopes and wishes that someday our nation will be at least significant enough to make make essential and important decisions and contributions and still keep our own identity. Wherein even if we die, and hava a chance to see what we left behind. we want to see something that can put a smile in our face and say that. it turned out well.
In reference to your question/s. First , Just to let you know. I sincerely am not taking any offense on you telling that I’m on self-denial. Perhaps you right on that “on your” perspective and that’s understandable at these point. Maybe your just passionate about the said issue. As for my end, whether others call it “self-denial” as you’ve said, as for me, I see it, I call it “HOPE”.
As to how we can start a change? We start by defining what is “TALANGKA MENTALITY”, let it be known to all if that exist or not in the present day life. Get feedback’s, ask if they like that if done to them,or if they have a choice would they do so, or not. Are we guilty of such way of thinking in the past, is it most likely to happen, what triggers it, what do we do to avoid it, and many questions that needs to be addressed on a daily basis to reinforce the idea and make sure we remind ourselves of such harmful thinking if they are indeed harmful..
This way of thinking, is the result of hundred of years of feeling oppressed and not being able to stand for oneself due to fear and more. It wont happen easy, It will take years, starting from building a stronger and more defined way of thinking of the new generation. This indoctrination of new generation must also be based under the current cultures we have and do some adjustments while keeping the values and characteristic important to MOST if not all Filipino’s (specially our elders opinion). Values that will help them grow strong, compassionate, pro life and peace, respect, (PO and OPO)..Again values that keep our Identity and Characteristics that we need for a new and better future.
POINTS TO PONDER:
** a 6 inch nail needs to be hammered many times to be driven in its based, or 1 huge blow to either brake it or drive it thoroughly.( if your the nail.how would you like to be hammered in place. 1 blow or slowly but surely. ( off course it ahs to be with sense of urgency)
Peace, Loving-kindness and compassion to all..
the title is a question, yes? and questions need answers, yes? so reading all 245 comments..i am left to ask, where is the answer to the title?
hehe.ayos yun kapatid ah….well,philosophically correct, but can be technically incorrect depende sa angle of argument..hehehe..point taken, may provide ako answer sir/ma’am see if its anyway relevant..if may sense and lulang..we can all help together to do something about it. not necessary big step, but small action to help one at a time.
anyways,there has to be a leader somewhere..providing answers will just keep them here until enforced o may ginawa tayo to take actions of help and support..
I say excellence of character over excellence on language. Talanka mentality kills individual; motivation, it can help if strong ung character ng tao, but again it will limit numbers of success we have if konti lng ang nag try..support support support all grreat thinkers, inventors, actions that leads to PEACE, PROGRESS.cultivate compassion and kindness sa isat isa
nagtatanong_lang,
The answer is very simple and takes common sense: master the English and Tagalog language in their respective, grammatically-correct forms; and drop the “Taglish” from the Filipinos’ daily vernacular, because it promotes lazines and ignorance to correctly learn the first two language.
Aeta
Etosiboy,
“anyways,there has to be a leader somewhere..providing answers will just keep them here until enforced o may ginawa tayo to take actions of help and support..”
Yup. I agree. There has to be a very determinedand strong leader to enforce these actions.
And you should teach your kids Tagalog Or your dialect or they will be distanced from their Filipino Culture and be resentful like I was. My mom is Filipino and didn’t teach me her language. Which in turn made me just upset as well as many Filipinos born in English speaking countries when their Korean, Indian, German, Chinese, and other children are bilingual completely and you grow up feeling completely bewildered and confused why your mom or dad didn’t feel it to be of value to teach them their language. Yet other non-native English speakers find it of value to pass on their language and culture. Filipinos apparently don’t.
Some comments may answer your question:
https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-Filipino-Americans-teach-their-kids-Tagalog
I am not very at English, so I am awed by the vocabulary of the people in this forum. I am learning a lot of vocabulary from this post! 🙂
Anyhow, my stance is that I believe that English is VITAL in getting ahead in life, thus I am saddened by DepEd’s decision to use the mother tongue for all subjects in Grades 1-3, so we can compete with other countries “fairly” in TIMMS. I mean, isn’t it ridiculous to use the mother tongue in Science and Mathematics?! Consequently, we will be raising the next generation who will be speaking poor English. My goodness!
typo: “I am not very GOOD AT ENGLISH”
Houston, we have a situation…
http://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/2016/08/29/filipino-languages.html
Yes, English! As our Common Lingual Franca or Bridge language due to its being Ethnolinguistically Non-Biased and Neutral.
Time to adopt Singapore and India Linguistic Policy: “Mother Tongue + English”.
And not Ph’ s Hegemonic Policy:
For Tagalog’s –>
“Mother Tongue (Tagalog) + English”
For us NON-Tagalogs –>
“Their Language (Tagalog) + our respective Mother Tongue + English”
Result? Many Tagalog’s feel privilege and superior, and no longer exert effort to communicate with us in English but in Tagalog because anyway, we can now also understand them. And of course vice versa.
Without English your country will die at an even faster pace. Tagalog is a worthless language. My children only speak English
And the fact that Filipinos are progressively abandoning mastery in English keeps many expatriates from working as English Teachers and keeps them stuck in low-paying domestic jobs. I am Italian and I have a Bulaquenya wife and I know a lot of Filipinos who have been offered to teach English or give private lessons but they don’t feel qualified. So sad
Sorry zaxx, but I’m a colonialist. Not to mention that I’m pro-American. Instead, the fact that I identify myself as an ethnic Spaniard/Hispanic as well as a Germanic as a whole for I mainly speak English which belongs to the Germanic sub-language family of Indo-European, I say I prefer Spanish masters over the Philippines. Not because some make fun of Indios but I still get to know the good things they did. I also love their food, flamenco, Spanish girls, etc. I also like Japanese and Korean Culture(J-Pop, K-Pop, Anime, Sushi, Kimchi, Ragnarok Online, the kawaii girls, etc). Of course those mentioned are not part of Spanish and Western culture. Not sure about America though. But I love KFC so fucking much. And yes, I’m pro-Trump too hehehehe. In fact I actually consider myself not just a devout Roman Catholic but also a conservative. Maybe that’s the reason why I admire Trump sometimes. In fact during the 2016 elections, I voted for Grace Poe who might be a Republican Conservative too. Hope you understand me.
Lastly, let me just inform you that despite I identify with the West, I still actually have Asian features. However, I will never look like a true Filipino, Pinoy, or Native.
Years (actually almost a decade) pass since the article published. I would not say if you should pursue excellence in Englsih since I’m a foreigner and it’s your business. You are the one who would take the results — good or bad — ofr what you do, not me or others. But be warned. I would take only tourism as an example. Right now there are people who travel to other countries eg. TH. without knowing Eng or TH except some basic words/phrase. How can they do that? The answer: App. Yes the appication on your phone. That’s right. Want to see some sample of them? I would take only Vietnamese who travel to TH. Seacrh for “Du Lịch Thái Lan facebook” https://www.facebook.com/groups/1439141509745393/ and see for yourselves.
Think more about this topics: AI, etc. and decide for yourselves.